The quality of life of patients suffering from a bilateral vestibular loss is severely altered. Patients mainly complain of oscillopsia, imbalance, and spatial disorientation. Up to now, there is no efficient treatment. Some teams around the world are working on the development of a vestibular implant for the restoration of the vestibular function based on the concept similar to that of a cochlear implant, stimulating the neural vestibular pathways through electrical pulses. There are different potential stimulation sites of the vestibular system, all raising the major concern about a potential hearing loss in the implanted ear. As this implant does not exist yet, patients cannot be informed of the risk of hearing loss due to the surgical intervention versus the benefits brought by the vestibular prosthesis. In order to better inform future vestibular implant candidates, we need to evaluate the handicap of patients with an actual unilateral hearing loss, and to compare it to the way that patients suffering from a bilateral vestibular loss perceive a potential unilateral hearing loss. For this, we used the HHIA questionnaire (Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults) on 3 groups of participants, i.e. patients with a unilateral hearing loss, patients suffering from a bilateral vestibular loss but having normal hearing, and healthy subjects. The scores reported by patients with a unilateral hearing loss were much lower than those of the other 2 groups, indicating that people whose hearing is normal overstate the disability related to a unilateral hearing loss. Patients to whom a vestibular implant is proposed in order to correct their balance disorders may use this information to decide whether or not to choose an operation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.