Sub-Clinical Effects of Chronic Noise Exposure on Vestibular System.

AIM: to investigate the effect of chronic noise exposure on vestibular function of subjects without clinical evidence of vestibular disorders and with documented cochlear damage from noise. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 25 patients with chronic noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and without vestibular complaints (group A) and 25 matched controls with sensorineural hearing loss without noise exposure (group B), underwent audiological and vestibular test including caloric and cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials tests (cVEMPs). RESULTS: In subjects chronically exposed to noise, similarly to that of the auditory threshold, an increase in the evocation threshold of VEMPs has been documented, statistically significant (p<0,05) and independent of the performance of the auditory threshold. p1-n1 amplitude values showed a significant difference between group A and group B. No significant difference for p1-n1 latencies between the two groups was found. CONCLUSION: We have documented the possibility of vestibular lesion, along with cochlear damage, related to chronic acoustic trauma.

Chronic subjective dizziness: Analysis of underlying personality factors.

BACKGROUND: Chronic subjective dizziness (CSD) is characterized by persistent dizziness, unsteadiness, and hypersensitivity to one's own motion or exposure to complex visual stimuli. CSD may be triggered, in predisposed individuals with specific personality traits, by acute vestibular diseases. CSD is also thought to arise from failure to re-establish normal balance strategies after resolution of acute vestibular events which may be modulated by diathesis to develop anxiety and depression. OBJECTIVE: To confirm the role of personality traits linked to anxiety and depression (i.e., neuroticism, introversion, low openness) as predisposing factors for CSD and to evaluate how individual differences in these personality traits are associated with CSD severity. METHODS: We compared 19 CSD patients with 24 individuals who had suffered from periferal vestibular disorders (PVD) (i.e., Benign Paroxysmal Postural Vertigo or Vestibular Neuritis) but had not developed CSD as well as with 25 healthy controls (HC) in terms of personality traits, assessed via the NEO-PI-R questionnaire. RESULTS: CSD patients, relative to PVD patients and HCs, scored higher on the anxiety facet of neuroticism. Total neuroticism scores were also significantly associated with dizziness severity in CSD patients but not PVD patients. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-existing anxiety-related personality traits may promote and sustain the initial etiophatogenetic mechanisms linked with the development of CSD. Targeting anxiety-related mechanisms in CSD may be therefore a promising way to reduce the disability associated with CSD.

The genetics of Ménière's disease.

Our understanding of the genetic basis of Ménière's disease (MD) is still limited. Although the familial clustering and the geographical and racial differences in incidence strongly suggest a certain role for genetic factors in the development of MD, no convincing evidence for an association with any gene exists, at present. In this review, starting from rational bases for a genetic approach to MD, we explored the numerous reports published in literature and summarize the recent advances in understanding of the genetic fundaments of the disease.

A proteomics-driven assay defines specific plasma protein signatures in different stages of Ménière's disease.

Ménière's disease (MD) is a common disorder of the inner ear whose hallmarks are vertigo, tinnitus, aural fullness, and progressive hearing loss. The degree of severity of the disease is quite heterogeneous, and so is its pathogenesis. A multifactorial inheritance of intrinsic and extrinsic factors has been described, but there is not a common agreement on the molecular basis of MD. In a recent article, we have demonstrated that patients suffering from MD share a common plasma proteomic signature, characterized by the presence of several up- and down-regulated proteins. In this study, we have further extended our analysis and show that the differential expression of plasma proteins can identify specific subsets of MD-affected individuals, depending on their stage. Our findings confirm our plasma proteomics-driven approach as a powerful tool for early diagnosis of MD and uncover a potentially starring role for some proteins in the development and fate of this frustrating disease, whose pathogenesis still remains unclear.

Changes in clinical and instrumental vestibular parameters following acute exposition to auditory stress.

Besides Tullio's phenomenon, resulting from anatomic changes in the labyrinth, a hypersensitivity to acoustic stimuli of the saccular structures appears to be the underlying cause of the vestibular responses detected in some patients. In order to evaluate the incidence of vestibular symptoms triggered by acute exposure to auditory stress (disco music), 40 subjects aged between 18 and 26 years, with no audiological and vestibular disorders, were submitted to otoneurologic tests. Subjects were exposed to disco music [intensity 128 dB (C)], for 3 hours. Tests have been carried out before and immediately after exposure. Canalar and macular functions have been evaluated using vestibular investigation techniques and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials. When compared to baseline data, post-exposure test results did not reveal any canalar damage. Pre- and post-exposure recordings of the vestibular-oculomotor reflex threshold have shown no significant changes. Conversely, post-stimulus recordings have shown a significant increase in the amplitude of the vestibular evoked myogenic potential response, thus indicating a possible irritative involvement of the macular receptor. This result suggests a direct action upon the receptor by acoustic stimulation which could, therefore, be the underlying cause of vestibular symptoms reported by patients following exposure to sufficiently intense acoustic stimuli. Prior to this study. a questionnaire concerning the relationship between habitual disco visiting and audio-vestibular symptoms has been completed by 310 students at the University of Catanzaro. This survey revealed a significant incidence of vestibular symptoms due to acoustic stress (Tullio's phenomenon) which led us to hypothesise that balance disorders due to auditory stress are much more frequent than commonly held, particularly since, in many cases, diagnoses is unknown or not easy due to the difficult procedures by which these conditions are diagnosed.