Evaluation of vestibular system in profound sensorineural hearing loss patients

Abstract Background The cochlea and vestibule share a continuous membranous structure and similar receptor cell ultrastructures and are supplied by common arterial blood. Therefore, inner ear diseases probably affect the cochlea as well as the vestibular system. Purpose This study aimed to evaluate vestibular system in profound sensorineural hearing loss patients. Methods This work included 40 adults. They were divided into 20 normal hearing adults who had no vestibular complaint (control group) and 20 profound sensorineural hearing loss (PSNHL) adults who had no vestibular complaint (study group). They were evaluated by cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs), ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMPs), subjective visual vertical (SVV), subjective visual horizontal (SVH), and video head impulse test (vHIT). Results cVEMPs were successfully recorded from all subjects in control group, while it was absent in 37.5% of the study group. oVEMPs showed normal response in control group, while it was absent in 60% of the study group. Subjects in the control group showed normal SVV/H values, while in study group SVV showed abnormal values in 30% and SVH showed abnormal values in 35%. Subjects in the control group showed normal vHIT values, while in study group vHIT showed abnormal values in (55%). Conclusions In PSNHL patients, inner ear diseases affected both the vestibular system and the cochlea. This was evidenced by the high prevalence of absent oVEMPs and cVEMPs as well as abnormal values of SVV, SVH, and vHIT in the study group.