Hearing Loss and Vestibular Dysfunction in Meniere's Disease

In a retrospective study of 475 patients suffering from Meniere's disease, the hearing loss, both in the low and high frequencies, and the loss of vestibular function were studied over time. There were large variations of hearing loss from case to case but, overall, the low were more affected than the high frequencies, regardless of time elapsed since onset of disease. Hearing deteriorated over time and mean values of hearing loss correlated well with the elapsed time since onset of disease. There were also large variations of post-caloric labyrinthine preponderance (lp) from case to case but, overall, lp deteriorated with time. Mean values of lp, however, did not correlate that well with elapsed time since onset of disease as the hearing loss did. Nor was there any correlation over time between level of hearing loss and lp. It is concluded that in Meniere's disease the hearing, deteriorating over time, is mainly but not necessarily worse in the low frequencies; lp, indicating loss of vestibular function, does not correlate with level of hearing loss in most cases.