Cervical Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potentials in Individuals with Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) in individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) provide evidence as how diabetes can bring about changes in the peripheral nervous system. Cervical VEMP (cVEMP) evaluates the function and integrity of the sacullo- collic pathway and ocular VEMP (oVEMP) evaluates the utriculo-collic pathway. cVEMP is an ipsilateral inhibitory response of the sternocleidomastoid muscle. cVEMP is recorded at higher intensity above 80-85 dBnHL with biphasic waveforms having initial peak positivity P13 followed by a negativity N23. We performed a systematic review following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to evaluate cVEMP in diabetes mellitus. The search was conducted in the databases: PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Scopus, and Cochrane library using the keywords "diabetes mellitus" and "vestibular evoked myogenic potential" or "cVEMP." A two-phase selection process was used for the final inclusion of studies, and the methodological quality of these studies was assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa scale (NCOS). Meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model. For comparisons between DM and healthy controls, a significant difference was observed for cVEMP amplitude (P = 0.01). Our meta-analysis's results suggest peripheral vestibular dysfunction can be observed in DM. It appears that cVEMPs may be useful in the early detection of neuropathy in DM.

Practice Patterns of Audiologists Involved in Assessment and Management of Vestibular Disorders: An Indian Cross-Sectional Survey.

BACKGROUND: As the incidence of vestibular disorders continues to rise, the role of the audiologists in assessing and providing effective intervention has become increasingly important. To date, there have been no studies investigating the practice patterns of Indian audiologists towards the assessment and management of vestibular disorders. METHOD: An electronic survey consisting of 29 questions across demographics, vestibular assessment, and management emailed to 704 members of the Indian Speech and Hearing Association (ISHA). Additionally, the questionnaire was circulated to audiologists through social media groups. The participants were provided with a two weeks' time limit for completing the survey. RESULTS: 704 participants were contacted to take part in the survey, and only 243 responses were received resulting in a 34.66 % response rate. Among the 243 participants who responded, 127 participants were currently not involved in the assessment and/or management of vestibular disorders in India. The responses were analyzed descriptively according to each section of the questionnaire. The study also sheds light on vestibular assessment, rehabilitation trends, and perceived barriers/facilitators among Indian audiologists. CONCLUSION: We observed major discrepancies between practice patterns of audiologists in India. Like any other developing nation, India has challenges of its own. Proper planning in terms of resource allocation is needed to address the barriers in access to instrumentation, and limited workforce.

The effect of coffee on contralateral suppression of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions.

Background: Coffee is a popular non-alcoholic beverage consumed by humans across the world. It contains caffeine, which is a type of stimulant of the central nervous system. In the auditory system, it has a positive effect on auditory brainstem response and perception of speech in noise. Further, caffeine has an inhibitory effect in the cochlea, but studies have rarely investigated its effect on otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) in humans. OAEs are low-intensity sounds produced by the cochlea, which could be recorded in the ear canal. The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of coffee on transient evoked otoacoustic emission (TEOAE) and contralateral suppression of TEOAE. Method: A total of 52 young adults participated in the study. A cross-over study design was used for the present investigation. The TEOAE and contralateral suppression of TEOAE were recorded before and after consumption of coffee and milk. The contralateral suppression of TEOAE was measured by presenting white noise to the contralateral ear at 40, 50, and 60 dB sound pressure level (SPL). Results: The mean amplitude of TEOAE before and after consumption of coffee was similar in both ears. Further, the mean contralateral suppression of TEOAE was slightly larger after consumption of coffee in both ears. However, the mean difference was not significant in both the ears. Conclusions: Based on the findings of present study, coffee has no significant effect on the amplitude of TEOAE and contralateral suppression of TEOAE.