Ménière's disease: A long-term follow-up study of bilateral hearing levels

It is suggested that a holistic factor - such as psychological stress--is involved in Menière's disease (MD) and that the pathological changes in MD may be a result not only of endolymphatic hydrops but also of disorders affecting the entire cochlea.Changes in the hearing of 51 patients with unilateral MD were investigated to ascertain the correlation between changes in hearing loss (a) in the affected ear vs the contralateral ear and (b) at low frequencies vs high frequencies.About half of the MD patients showed a significant positive correlation between the hearing level in the affected ear and that in the contralateral ear and also between the average hearing level at lower frequencies and that at 8 kHz. These tendencies were more pronounced in patients with severe fluctuation of hearing and/or severe hearing loss.