Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in patients with bilateral profound hearing loss.
We report vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) in 3 patients with bilateral profound hearing loss in order to confirm that they are not of cochlear origin. All of the 3 patients (31-year-old man, 67-year-old man and 47-year-old woman) had bilateral profound hearing loss. They were diagnosed as having congenital hearing loss, bilateral Ménière's disease and inner ear syphilis. Their pure-tone hearing ranged from 81 dB HL to nearly total hearing loss. Stimulation by click (95 dB nHL) evoked biphasic myogenic responses (p13-n23) on the sternocleidomastoid muscle ipsilateral to the stimulated ear. The ear in which the stimulation did not evoke biphasic myogenic responses did not have a caloric response either. These results suggested that VEMPs are not likely of cochlear origin but of vestibular origin.
Ozeki
H
H
Department of Otolarynoglogy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Matsuzaki
M
M
Murofushi
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D002150:Caloric Tests; D004576:Electromyography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006312:Hearing Loss, Bilateral / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009334:Neck Muscles / Q000502:physiology*