Auditory Steady-State Response and Hearing Impairment in Survivors of Childhood Bacterial Meningitis in Luanda, Angola.

Survivors of childhood bacterial meningitis (BM) often develop hearing impairment (HI). In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), BM continues to be a significant cause of hearing disability. We assessed hearing among BM survivors using auditory steady-state responses (ASSR), providing frequency-specific estimated audiograms, and examined whether ASSR would provide a greater understanding of BM-induced HI.

Dizzy triathlete-evidence supporting vestibular etiology.

Dizziness during or after the swimming leg is a common complaint among triathletes. We hypothesized that the dizziness is caused by asymmetrical cooling of the vestibular organ. This caloric response is characterized by involuntary eye movements called nystagmus.

Simultaneous bilateral stapes surgery after follow-up of 13 years.

Background: Eighteen patients underwent simultaneous bilateral stapes surgery in 2003-2006.

Objectives: We evaluated the long-term outcomes in this patient group, and assessed their hearing in noise and binaural hearing.

Material And Methods: Fifteen patients returned questionnaires concerning their hearing, taste function, and balance.

Impact noise of prostate biopsy devices.

To analyse the impact noise generated by prostate biopsy devices. In a laboratory setting, repeated impact noise was recorded at distances of 50 cm and 100 cm using five brands of device on chicken meat, an apple and an empty target. In a clinical setting, the impact noise levels of prostate biopsy devices were recorded in 40 real patient cases using three brands of device.

Clinical Characteristics of Troublesome Pediatric Tinnitus.

Objectives: The frequency of tinnitus in children and adults is practically the same. However, although adults reveal their symptoms and seek for medical aid, the suffering often remains unrecognized in the young. This is due to both the inability of children to properly describe their symptoms and the lack of recognition.

Head tilt is pronounced after an ipsilateral head roll in patients with vestibular schwannoma.

The study aimed to measure utricular function by directly quantifying head tilt in vestibular schwannoma (VS) patients using regular video-oculography (VOG) equipment with integrated head-position sensor, and to correlate the results with patients' symptoms and signs. We recorded head tilting after exclusion of visual cues (static head tilt), and after returning to the centre following lateral head rolls towards each side [subjective head vertical (SHV)]. Head tilt in 43 patients was measured preoperatively and approximately 4 months postoperatively, and compared to that of 20 healthy subjects.

[Bilateral failure of the vestibular system of the inner ear underlying an equilibrium disturbance].

Bilateral vestibular failure is a fairly rare, though possible cause underlying the symptoms of a dizzy patient. A recognizable oscillopsia symptom makes the diagnosis easier, though confirmation of the diagnosis requires a more precise measurement. The prognosis for recovery is not good, and curative treatment is not available.

[Nystagmus].

Physiological nystagmus stabilizes gaze during head movements and pathological nystagmus reflects a disorder of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Pathological nystagmus appears or strengthens usually during change in head position. Therefore, dizziness or nystagmus associated with head movements is not specific to benign paroxysmal positional vertigo unless it is verified in specific positional test.

Cochlear implantation rarely alters horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex in motorized head impulse test.

Objective: Determine the change in vestibular function in patients receiving a unilateral cochlear implant, and to compare these results with other signs and symptoms.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Academic tertiary referral center.

Recovery of the horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex in motorized head impulse test is common after vestibular loss.

Conclusion: Decreased horizontal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain measured with the motorized head impulse rotator usually recovers at least partially within a few months after sudden unilateral vestibular loss. In addition to traditional evaluation of nystagmus, head impulse test responses provide valuable information on the severity and recovery of vestibular loss.

Objectives: To quantify recovery of vestibular function with the motorized head impulse test in patients with acute unilateral peripheral vestibular loss, and to compare these results with other signs and symptoms.

Signal analysis of three-dimensional nystagmus for otoneurological investigations.

Three-dimensional signal analysis can be applied to eye movements called nystagmus in order to study otoneurological patients suffering from vertigo and other balance problems. We developed an analysis and modeling algorithm for three-dimensional nystagmus measured by a video-oculography system. We were also interested in verifying an otoneurological hands-on convention called Ewald's first law in a strict physiological sense in vestibular patients.