UC Irvine

Objective

To define the incidence of measurable vestibular disorders in patients with auditory and peripheral neuropathies.

Design

Descriptive study of the case features of auditory neuropathy in 14 patients, 8 of whom had concomitant peripheral neuropathies.

Setting

University referral center.

Patients

Fourteen patients aged from 10 to 75 years and diagnosed as having auditory neuropathy, 8 of whom had concomitant peripheral neuropathies.

Main outcome measures

Incidence of abnormal vestibular caloric test results and the relationship of such incidence to clinical variables including the ages of the subjects, the presence of a concomitant peripheral neuropathy, vestibular symptoms, and audiological findings.

Results

Abnormal vestibular caloric test results occurred in 9 of the 14 patients. These 9 patients were on average older (35.6 years) than patients with normal caloric responses (17.8 years). Seven of the 9 patients with abnormal caloric responses had concomitant peripheral neuropathies compared with only 1 of the 5 patients with normal caloric responses. None of the 14 patients experienced symptoms of vestibular disorder.

Conclusions

Asymptomatic vestibular disorders are common in patients with auditory neuropathy when a peripheral neuropathy is also present. The reason for the abnormal vestibular test results is likely a neuropathy of the vestibular nerves. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2000;126:1453-1456