Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential Response in Acquired Sensory Neural Hearing Loss

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) are widely used for assessment of vestibular function in individuals with balance disorders. However it is possible that hearing loss, if present, may affect the vestibular response. Hence, there is a need to understand the effect of various degrees of hearing loss on VEMP.  Thus the present study was carried out to investigate the effects of degree of sensori-neural hearing loss on VEMP.A total of 31 individuals with hearing loss between 18 and 65 years participated in the study, and they were clustered in to four groups based on degree of hearing loss. VEMP was recorded from all the individuals using click at 95 dB nHL from both the ears. The result showed reduction in the amplitude of p1-n1 among individuals with hearing impairment however the reduction was not statistically significant across the groups. We conclude that degree of hearing loss may not be a significant factor in assessment of vestibular disorders using VEMP.