OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To evaluate the vestibulo-ocular reflex and its relationship with subjective balance in a long-term follow-up after vestibular schwannoma surgery. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohorts study in a tertiary referral hospital. Forty-nine consecutive patients on which vestibular schwannoma surgery was performed at least 1 year before. METHODS Patients are classified in accord...

OBJECTIVE To assess the therapeutic benefit of gabapentin (Neurontin) for subjective idiopathic troublesome tinnitus. DESIGN An 8-week, double-blind, randomized clinical trial. SETTING Academic otolaryngology clinic in St Louis, Mo. SUBJECTS One hundred thirty-five subjects with severe idiopathic subjective tinnitus of 6 months' duration or longer. INTERVENTION Gabapentin, at a maintena...

This investigation was conducted to determine whether there was congruence between "physiology-based" definitions of compensated and uncompensated unilateral peripheral vestibular system impairment and "functional" measures of self-perceived dizziness disability/handicap. A retrospective analysis was performed on data obtained from 122 patients evaluated in the Balance Function Laboratory at He...

This study investigated the effects of age on self-perceived hearing disability among young and elderly people with comparable hearing sensitivity. Subjects were young (18-40 yr) and elderly (65-75 yr) listeners with either normal hearing sensitivity or mild-to-moderate sloping sensorineural hearing loss. The Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly was presented to the older subjects and the...

OBJECTIVES Currently, there is no evidence of an effective treatment for patients with bilateral vestibulopathy (BV). Their main complaints are oscillopsia and imbalance. Opinions about the impact of BV on their quality of life are controversial, and their handicap is not always recognized, even among otoneurologists. The aim of this study was to objectively assess the health status of BV patie...

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of vestibular rehabilitation in a cohort of elderly labyrinthine-defective patients also affected by a moderate cognitive impairment of vascular origin. A secondary aim was to establish whether additional treatment with a cholinergic precursor (choline alphascerate) might enhance the results of the physical therapy in these patients....

Patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) often complain of dizziness. However, these problems may be undetected by a clinical exam. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationships between the subjective and objective measures of balance impairment. Ten patients with TBI (6 men and 4 women) and 10 matched controls participated in this study. Average duration since t...

Hearing loss is the most common sensory deficit in the elderly, and is becoming a severe social and health problem. Presbycusis is the result of aging which can lead to communication problems compromising the quality of life (QoL).Since the elderly population is increasing worldwide, presbycusis is showing a similar trend. This study intended to identify the impact of hearing loss in the social...