Electronystagmographic and audiologic findings in patients with Meniere's disease

Electronystagmographic (ENG) and audiologic findings were reviewed for 206 patients treated for Meniere's disease (MD) at the University of Washington Hospital over a 10-year period (1971-80). The most frequently seen ENG findings were unilateral caloric weakness (UW) in 49%, directional preponderance (DP) in 36%, and spontaneous and/or positional nystagmus (SN, PN) in 32%. ENG was normal in 25%. Bilateral caloric weakness (BW) occurred in 36% of patients with bilateral hearing loss. UW was reliably correlated with the side of audiometric involvement; after exclusion of bilateral cases, only 3% of patients showed UW contralateral to the ear with hearing los. Neither DP nor direction of SN or PN correlated at all with side of hearing loss. There was no significant correlation of severity of hearing loss (by pure-tone thresholds or speech discrimination score) with ENG abnormality (UW or DP). Glycerol-positive patients had significantly poorer hearing than glycerol-negative patients, but ENG findings were similar in the two groups.