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Prevalence of abnormal vestibular responses in children with sensorineural hearing loss

  • Otology
  • Published:
European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Dysfunction of the vestibular organs has a great deal of influence on children’s balance. Children with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) may often have accompanying abnormal vestibular responses. Video head impulse test (vHIT) combined with a test battery of cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs, oVEMPs) make it possible to determine the prevalence of abnormal vestibular response in any of the five paired vestibular organs amongst children with SNHL.

Method

Prospective cross-sectional study including children aged 3–17 years with uni- or bilateral SNHL (bone-conduction (BC) pure tone average (PTA4) above 20 dB). Assessments included vHIT, cVEMP, and oVEMP. Descriptive data were analyzed. T-tests were performed to detect any correlation between the degree of SNHL and abnormal vestibular responses.

Results

42 children (27 males), a total of 63 ears with SNHL, mean BC PTA4 SNHL of 42.3 dB (32.0; 58.4 IR) were included. 28.6% had at least one ear with abnormal vestibular response. 97.6% (41/42) completed one and 75.0% (27/36) completed all vestibular examinations. Ears with two pathological examinations had significantly more severe SNHL than ears with one pathological or normal vestibular examinations (p = 0.008, p = 0.005).

Conclusion

All test methods used with this study were easy, fast, and comfortable for children (as young as 3 years of age) to undergo. Even a moderate SNHL might be associated with abnormal vestibular response. Structural damage to the organs is the most likely cause of vestibular deficit. Consensus on criteria defining pathological examinations with both vHIT and VEMPs are required for more accurate comparison with previous studies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Regitze Gyldenholm Skals for her statistical guidance during this project.

Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Erik Gadsbøll, Alexander Wolfhagen Erbs & Dan Dupont Hougaard

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck Cancer, and Audiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark

    Dan Dupont Hougaard

Authors
  1. Erik Gadsbøll
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  2. Alexander Wolfhagen Erbs
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  3. Dan Dupont Hougaard
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Contributions

EG and AWE have contributed equally in the making of this article and both share an equal amount of authorship of this article. Both have contributed equally the development of the study design, data collection and written every aspect of the study. DHD was the main supervisor of the project and contributed to the conceptualization of the study, corrections, and design as well as the academic process throughout the entire project period. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erik Gadsbøll.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

Approved by The North Denmark Region Committee on Health Research Ethics N-20200034.

Consent to participate

All participants aged 3–15 years and their guardian(s) received oral and written information about the study prior to inclusion and consent was obtained in written format from the guardian(s) with custody. All participants aged 15–17 years and their guardian(s) received oral and written information about the study and consent was obtained in written format from all participants.

Consent for publication

All participants aged 3–15 years and their guardian(s) received oral and written information about publication and consent were obtained in written format from the guardian(s) with custody. All participants aged 15–17 years and their guardian(s) received oral and written information about publication and consent were obtained in written format from all participants.

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No conflicts of interest.

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Gadsbøll, E., Erbs, A.W. & Hougaard, D.D. Prevalence of abnormal vestibular responses in children with sensorineural hearing loss. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 279, 4695–4707 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-07241-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-07241-2

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