Vestibular evoked myogenic potential induced by bone-conducted stimuli in patients with conductive hearing loss.

CONCLUSIONS

Bone-conducted vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (B-VEMPs) showed high specificity for the presence of vertigo in patients with unilateral chronic otitis media (COM). These results suggest that vestibular function can be evaluated with B-VEMPs, even in patients with conductive hearing loss.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the VEMPs induced by bone-conducted stimuli (B-VEMPs) in patients with conductive hearing loss due to perforated COM.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

The subjects were 48 patients with unilateral perforated COM and conductive hearing loss. The disequilibrium group consisted of 25 patients, and the non-disequilibrium group consisted of 23 patients. The control group comprised 35 healthy volunteers. B-VEMPs were stimulated with tone burst sound of 60 dB nHL and 250 Hz delivered from a bone vibrator and were recorded for each subject. The results of B-VEMP were compared between disequilibrium and non-disequilibrium groups.

RESULTS

The mean interaural ratio was 16.5+/-12.1% in the control group, thus the normal range was <40.7%. Abnormal results were not found in any subject in the non-disequilibrium group but were found in 13 patients (54.0%) in the disequilibrium group (p<0.001). The ear with COM showed lower responses than the intact ear in all subjects with abnormal results.