[Acoustic and vestibular analysers in patients with mine explosion trauma]

The aim of the study was examination of the acoustic and vestibular functions in patients with mine explosion trauma. Acoustic and vestibular functions were studied in 27 patients (16 females and 11 males aged 19-66 years, mean age 37.2 +/- 4.12) admitted to the ENT clinic of Moscow city hospital N 1. All the patients had suffered from explosion in closed space. General clinical and complex otoneurological examinations were made including gustatory and olfactory investigations, studies of the facial skin sensitivity, nasal mucosa, corneal reflex, soft palate motility, audiometry and vestibulometry. The findings of the tests suggested the following conclusions: mine explosion damages hearing by impairment of both sound conduction (85.7%) and sound perception (61.2%), the latter suffering primarily at the cochlear level; damage to the cranial nerves V and XIII occurs at the level of the brain stem; mixed affection of the vestibular analyzer is seen primarily at the level of stem nuclei.