Pediatric vestibular evaluation: two children with sensorineural hearing loss

These two cases illustrate several important areas of vestibular evaluation with children. The two case reports represent two children who display very different vestibular findings despite having significant sensorineural hearing loss. These case reports highlight that pediatric findings can differ significantly from adult findings, stressing the importance of comparing pediatric results with pediatric normative data. These two cases also highlight that vestibular techniques may successfully be adapted for use with hearing-impaired children. That is, rotary chair, computerized dynamic posturography, and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials can be adapted to use with children, including those who demonstrate significant sensorineural hearing loss. Although there is a paucity of research and clinical work in this area, some investigators (Eviatar and Eviatar, 1977; Buchman et al, 2004; Jacot et al, 2009) have reported very rapid recovery from pediatric vestibular deficits. However, it is important for audiologists to be aware that techniques may successfully be adapted for children and that many children should undergo thorough vestibular evaluation.