Saccular damage in patients with high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss

Subjects with high frequency sensorineural hearing loss (HF-SNHL) without retrocochlear pathology are those group which certainly encountered inner ear damaging factors. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of cochlear damaging factors on the sacculocollic pathway. Fifty patients (76 ears) with varying degrees of HF-SNHL but without clinical manifestations of vestibular pathology tested for vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP). The results were compared with those of 18-healthy referents (32 ears) examined in the same way. Subjects with HF-SNHL greater than 40 dB HL showed significantly more saccular deterioration, estimated as negative VEMP responses than did the referents. This suggests subclinical disturbances of the vestibular system especially of the saccule in these patients. The underlying mechanism may be simultaneous damage to both the cochlea and saccule by the same factors.