Function of semicircular canals, utricles and saccules in deaf children

Objective To study vestibular function in deaf children. Material and Methods In 36 deaf children the function of the semicircular canals, saccules and utricles was measured by means of caloric testing, recordings of vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) and measurements of the subjective vi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Acta oto-laryngologica 2004-01, Vol.124 (1), p.41-48
Main Authors: Tribukait, Arne, Brantberg, Krister, Bergenius, Johan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Audiometry, Pure-Tone
Auditory Threshold - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Caloric Tests
children
Deafness - physiopathology
Deafness - rehabilitation
Education, Special
Electronystagmography
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
General aspects
hearing loss
Humans
Kinesthesis - physiology
Male
Medical sciences
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
Orientation - physiology
Reference Values
saccule
Saccule and Utricle - physiopathology
semicircular canal
Semicircular Canals - physiopathology
subjective horizontal
utricle
vestibular function
Vestibular Function Tests
Vestibular Nerve - physiopathology
vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective To study vestibular function in deaf children. Material and Methods In 36 deaf children the function of the semicircular canals, saccules and utricles was measured by means of caloric testing, recordings of vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) and measurements of the subjective visual horizontal (SVH) at different body tilts, respectively. Results In total, 30% of subjects had caloric hypo- or areflexia and 24% had a caloric asymmetry. VEMPs were weak or absent bilaterally in 22% of cases, and asymmetric in 19%. Regarding the utricle, 17% of subjects had a pathologically reduced perception of roll tilt to both sides and 25% had an asymmetry. In total, 30% of subjects were pathologic in all 3 tests and 30% were completely normal. Semicircular canal function correlated best with the function of the saccule. If hearing was better than 90 dB (pure-tone average of 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 kHz) vestibular function was often normal. For hearing levels of 100-120 dB, otolith function declined significantly. Conclusions Vestibular function tends to be preserved up to a point where hearing is nearly extinct. Hearing level correlates more closely with otolith function, especially that of the utricle, than with semicircular canal function.
ISSN:0001-6489
1651-2251
1651-2251
DOI:10.1080/00016480310002113