J Korean Bal Soc.  2007 Dec;6(2):167-171.

Comparison of Air Caloric Test and Vibration-Induced Nystagmus Test in Patients with Unilateral Chronic Otitis Media without Vertigo

• Ahn JY
• Park HJ
• Shin JE
• Park GH
• Jung YS
• Kwak HB
• Lee YJ
• Yoo JS

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to characterize the vibration-induced nystagmus (VIN) and air caloric test in patients with unilateral chronic otitis media, and to clarify the clinical availability of VIN by comparing the results of VIN test with those of air caloric test.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Nineteen patients with unilateral chronic otitis media who had had no vestibular symptoms in past history were investigated. Pure tone audiometry (PTA), air caloric, VIN and subjective visual vertical (SVV) tests were done and the results were analyzed to estimate the utility for investigating vestibular imbalance.
RESULTS
If we consider a patient with abnormal results from two or more tests as a patient with latent vestibular imbalance, because they had no previous vestibular symptoms, 3 patients was considered to have latent asymmetric vestibular function. False positive rate were 32% in air caloric test, 5% in VIN test and 0% in SVV test.
CONCLUSION
Our findings show that vestibular imbalance in patients with chronic otitis media should be determined through various tests and vibration-induced nystagmus test can be more useful than air caloric test in estimating the vestibular imbalance.

Keyword

Chronic otitis media; Caloric test; Vibration induced nystagmus; Subjective visual vertical

MeSH Terms

Audiometry
Caloric Tests*
Humans
Otitis Media*
Otitis*
Vertigo*