Application of Vestibular Function Combined with Audiological Examination in Vertigo Diseases

Background There are many types of vestibular function examination, each with different targets and positive rates. Clinical opinions vary on how to appropriately select examination methods for vertigo patients. Objective To explore the application value of vestibular function combined with audiological examination in peripheral vertigo diseases, and provide a reference basis for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of clinical vertigo diseases. Methods Patients with dizziness or vertigo as the main complaint were selected from January 2021 to January 2022 in the Vertigo Clinic of the First People's Hospital of Yibin. All patients finished the examination within 7 days including pure tone audiometry (PTA), caloric test, video head impulse test (vHIT) and head-shaking test (HST). The vestibular function examination and audiological examination results were compared. Results A total of 120 patients with vertigo who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria had complete case data, there were 40 cases of sudden deafness with vertigo (SDV), benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), and vestibular migraine (VM). The PTA in SDV patients was sensorineural deafness, 25 cases with caloric test abnormalities (62.50%), 16 cases with vHIT abnormalities (40.00%), 28 cases with HST abnormalities (70.00%). Nine BPPV patients had PTA abnormalities (22.50%), including 7 ears with sensorineural deafness, 2 ears with conduction deafness, 18 cases with caloric test abnormalities (45.00%), 21 cases with vHIT abnormalities (52.50%), and 20 cases with HST abnormalities (50.00%). There were 21 cases (52.50%) of PTA abnormalities in VM patients, all with sensorineural deafness, of which 26 ears had high-frequency hearing-light-moderate decline and 7 ears had low-frequency light-moderate decline. There were 16 cases with caloric test abnormalities (40.00%), 17 cases with vHIT abnormalities (42.50%), and 27 cases with HST abnormalities (67.50%). The proportion of hearing abnormalities in the three groups was statistically significant difference (χ2=50.26, P<0.001), and there were no statistically significant difference among the results of vestibular function examination (P>0.05) . Conclusion The vestibular function combined with audiological examination is helpful to the localization diagnosis of peripheral vertigo and to improve the detection rate and differential diagnosis of vertigo diseases.