Assessment of Vestibular Function in Adults with Prelingual Hearing Loss Using c/oVEMP Tests

The aim of the present study was to compare the vestibular system integrity of individuals with normal hearing with that of prelingual hearing impaired individuals. It is well known that ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMPs) reflect utricular function, whereas cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs) reflect saccular function. Therefore, oVEMP and cVEMP tests were applied to evaluate the vestibular system integrity of hearing impaired individuals participating in the research.

The study group consisted of sensorineural prelingual hearing-loss volunteers aged from 18 to 60 years, whereas the control group consisted of age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers. cVEMP and oVEMP tests were performed to evaluate the integrity of the vestibular system, and the results were compared with those of the control group.

The study included 20 (76.9%) women and 6 (23.1%) men in the study group; on the other hand, the control group consisted of 19 (73.1%) women and 7 (26.9%) men. There was a difference between the study group and the control group when oVEMP and cVEMP responses were compared, and the response percentage was higher in the control group. The response rates of oVEMP and cVEMP in patients with prelingual hearing loss were 44.2% and 59.6%, respectively. There was also a statistically significant difference between the groups for oVEMP amplitude and cVEMP P1 latency (p≤0.05).

These findings suggest that prelingual hearing loss is related to both utricular and saccular dysfunctions. However, oVEMPs were more often abnormal in prelingual deaf patients than cVEMPs, suggesting that utricular dysfunction may be more common than saccular dysfunction.