[Imaging of post-traumatic tinnitus, vertigo and deafness]

Tinnitus, hearing loss, and more rarely disequilibrium are common sequela of temporal bone trauma. Hemotympanum may cause a transient and immediate conductive hearing loss. HRCT depicts ossicular dislocation (most frequently incus), producing a long-term conductive hearing loss. Labyrinthine trauma causing neurosensory hearing loss or/and acute vertigo may be depicted by MRI, showing an abnormal non-enhancing high signal T1 of the membranous labyrinthine fluid. MRI also may show low signal T1 and T2 fibrotic areas of the membranous labyrinth, especially of interest if cochlear implant surgery is planned. Perilymphatic fistulas are to be searched in case of fluctuant hearing loss. Both HRCT and MRI may show window damage: filling of the tympanic recess, rupture of the window membrane, intra-vestibular luxation of the stapes, or occasionally pneumolabyrinth.