[Is there a correlation between vestibular and cochlear hypofunction in Menière's disease? (author's transl)]

The vestibular findings in Meniere's disease show large variations. In the attack-free interval, with strict unilateral disease, very often there seems to be a vestibular hypoexcitability. This canal paresis is mostly manifesting itself by a reduction of the velocity of the slow phase, and not so much by the shortening of the duration of a calorically induced nystagmus. With vestibular end-organ-diseases the relative hypoexcitability is most pronounced with strong cold stimuli. The correlation between hearing loss and vestibular function loss of 16 Meniere patients was examined at different caloric stimuli from 44 degrees to 17 degrees C. The generally accepted mode for determining vestibular hypoexcitability (mean value of the 44 degrees and 30 degrees -stimulus) only showed a very slight correlation to hearing loss. The determination of vestibular hypofunction at different caloric stimuli--or, at least, the additional application of a strong cold stimulus--seems to give new and valuable vestibular diagnostic possibilities.