Alcohol Sniff Test (AST): An Important Tool for Screening Post-Viral Olfactory Loss in Acute Flu-Like Dysfunction.

Olfactory disorders have a significant impact on patients' quality of life but are often underestimated in clinical practice. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are a common cause of olfactory loss. While most cases of olfactory loss due to URTIs are conductive and reversible, post-viral olfactory dysfunction (PVOD) persists despite symptom improvement.

Olfactory dysfunction in COVID-19: a marker of good prognosis?

Introduction: In May 2020, the World Health Organization recognized olfactory dysfunction as a COVID-19 symptom. The presence of hyposmia/anosmia may be a marker of good prognosis in COVID-19.

Objective: To associate the presence of olfaction disorder to the clinical condition severity in patients with COVID-19.

Sudden bilateral sensorineural hearing loss in a patient immunocompromised by the human immunodeficiency virus.

It is known that in less than a third of patients presenting sudden hearing loss, the disorder can be attributed to viral infection, trauma, neoplasms, and vascular and autoimmune diseases. However, the role of the HIV in the onset of this disease has not yet been well described. A 46-year-old female, in an immunosuppression state induced by HIV infection, presented with sudden bilateral hearing loss, with no improvement despite treatment.

Psychoacoustic classification of persistent tinnitus.

Introduction: Tinnitus is a difficult to treat symptom, with different responses in patients. It is classified in different ways, according to its origin and associated diseases.

Objective: to propose a single and measurable classification of persistent tinnitus, through its perception as sounds of nature or of daily life and its comparison with pure tone or noise, of high or low pitch, presented to the patient by audiometer sound.

Effectiveness of sound therapy in patients with tinnitus resistant to previous treatments: importance of adjustments.

Introduction: The difficulty in choosing the appropriate therapy for chronic tinnitus relates to the variable impact on the quality of life of affected patients and, thus, requires individualization of treatment.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of using sound generators with individual adjustments to relieve tinnitus in patients unresponsive to previous treatments.

Methods: A prospective study of 10 patients with chronic tinnitus who were unresponsive to previous drug treatments, five males and five females, with ages ranging from 41 to 78 years.

Is it important to repeat the positioning maneuver after the treatment for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo?

Introduction: Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common cause of peripheral vestibular dysfunction.

Objective: To assess whether the performance of the Dix-Hallpike maneuver after the Epley positioning maneuver has prognostic value in the evolution of unilateral ductolithiasis of posterior semicircular canal.

Methods: A prospective cohort study in monitored patients at otoneurology ambulatory with a diagnosis of BPPV; they were submitted to the therapeutic maneuver and then to a retest in order to evaluate the treatment effectiveness; all cases were reassessed one week later and the retest prognostic value was evaluated.

Effect of caffeine on cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential in healthy individuals.

Introduction: Caffeine is the most common psychoactive drug in use around the world and is found at different concentrations in a variety of common food items. Clinically, a strong association between caffeine consumption and diseases of the vestibular system has been established. Cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) is an electrophysiological test that is used to assess the sacculocollic pathway by measuring changes in the vestialibulocollic reflex.

Surgical simulator for temporal bone dissection training.

Unlabelled: Temporal bone dissection plays an important role in the training of surgeons; however, they are difficult to obtain.

Aim: To develop a synthetic replica of the temporal bone for dissection training.

Study Design: Experimental.

Pure tone audiometry with and without specific ear protectors.

Unlabelled: The authors evaluated pure tone audiometry with and without specific ear protectors.

Aim: The purpose of this case control study was to measure the level of sound attenuation by earplugs.

Material And Methods: The evaluation included sixty ears of 30 subjects of both sexes, aged between 20 and 58 years, of various professional activities, with normal hearing thresholds, and following ten hours of auditory rest.

Distortion product otoacoustic emissions in tinnitus patients.

Tinnitus is a symptom that affects a great number of patients. Its diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up are difficult, owing to its subjectivity. The authors propose the use of distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs) in tinnitus evaluation.