The Status of the Contralateral Ear in Established Unilateral Menière's Disease

Abstract Objectives/Hypothesis: To determine the incidence of measurable audiometric changes in the contralateral ear and clinical bilateral Menière's disease in individuals with longstanding established unilateral Menière's disease. Study Design: Analysis of data in an ongoing prospective study. Methods: One hundred and one patients who were treated with intratympanic gentamicin installation for disabling unilateral Menière's disease were followed up for a minimum of 2 years. The mean follow‐up time between the initial diagnosis to the last audiogram conducted was 12 ± 7 (range 2–45) years, and the mean follow‐up between the first and last audiograms conducted in our clinic was 5 ± 3 (range 2–15) years. The incidence of Menière's disease (clinical diagnosis) as compared with audiometric changes in the contralateral ear was analyzed. Results: Compared with several published reports, the development of bilateral Menière's disease in our series within the described observation period was much lower (5%). The incidence of contralateral isolated hearing loss in the low frequencies was 16% (average threshold of .25 and .5 kHz of 25 dB or more). The time interval between the initial diagnosis and the onset of contralateral findings ranged from 0 to 26 years. Conclusion: In our experience, individuals with disabling longstanding unilateral disease are not likely to develop bilateral disease. However, a small but significant percentage of patients have audiometric changes in the low frequencies of the contralateral ear (.25, .5 kHz).