To compare the auditory outcomes of Carina middle-ear implants with those of conventional hearing aids in patients with moderate-to-severe mixed hearing loss.

The study comprised nine patients (six males, three females) who underwent middle-ear implantation with Carina fully implantable active middle-ear implants to treat bilateral moderate-to-severe mixed hearing loss. The patients initially used conventional hearing aids and subsequently received the Carina implants. The hearing thresholds with implants and hearing aids were compared.

There were no significant differences between: the pre-operative and post-operative air and bone conduction thresholds (p > 0.05), the thresholds with hearing aids and Carina implants (p > 0.05), or the pre-operative (mean, 72.8 ± 19 per cent) and post-operative (mean, 69.9 ± 24 per cent) speech discrimination scores (p > 0.05). One of the patients suffered total sensorineural hearing loss three months following implantation despite an initial 38 dB functional gain. All except one patient showed clinical improvements after implantation according to quality of life questionnaire (Glasgow Benefit Inventory) scores.

Acceptance of Carina implants is better than with conventional hearing aids in patients with mixed hearing loss, although both yield similar hearing amplification. Cosmetic reasons appear to be critical for patient acceptance.

To document the use of transmastoid labyrinthectomy in the treatment of disabling vertigo after unilateral cochlear implantation.

A 58-year-old man with severe-to-profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss secondary to chronic otitis media underwent cochlear implantation in his right ear with a Pulsar Med-El device. The surgery was uneventful and the electrode was positioned correctly. He had episodic vertigo three months after implant surgery, and medical treatment and aggressive vestibular rehabilitation did not relieve the vertigo attacks.

Right transmastoid labyrinthectomy was performed one year after cochlear implantation. The patient's symptoms were immediately relieved, and cochlear implant function was not adversely affected at follow up after three years.

Transmastoid labyrinthectomy seems to be an effective, safe method for ablating the vestibular end organ after unilateral cochlear implantation.

To assess vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

Twenty-four patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (two men and 22 women) and 21 female controls were included in the study. All patients underwent vestibular evoked myogenic potential testing.

Statistical comparison of fibromyalgia patients with control subjects showed a significant difference with respect to n23 latencies and interpeak latencies (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in p13 latencies, nor in p13 amplitudes, n23 amplitudes or interpeak amplitudes (p > 0.05).

Although patients with fibromyalgia syndrome generally have subjective neurotological symptoms, clinical and laboratory assessments usually fail to detect any objective abnormality. However, it is possible to detect abnormalities on vestibular evoked myogenic potential testing in such patients, indicating dysfunction in the vestibulospinal pathway, possibly in the saccule. Elongation of the n23 latency and of the interpeak latency of waves p13–n23, during vestibular evoked myogenic potential testing, may be a useful, objective indicator demonstrating neurotological involvement in fibromyalgia syndrome patients. Future research investigating the mechanisms of this latency elongation may help increase understanding of the pathogenesis of fibromyalgia syndrome.

This study aimed to evaluate retrospectively the results of experience with end-to-end anastomosis of cranial nerves VII and XII, performed due to transection of the facial nerve during acoustic neuroma removal.

We assessed the facial reanimation results of 33 patients whose facial nerves had been transected during acoustic neuroma excision via a retrosigmoid approach, between 1985 and 2006, and who underwent end-to-end hypoglossofacial anastomosis. We compared the facial nerve functions of patients receiving short term (two to three years) and long term (more than three years) follow up, and we assessed any complications of the anastomosis.

A House–Brackmann grade III facial function was achieved in 46.2 and 86.4 per cent of the patients in the short and long term, respectively. House–Brackmann grade IV facial function was achieved in 53.8 and 13.6 per cent of the patients in the short and long term, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the facial recovery results, comparing the short and long term follow-up periods (p = 0.03). Disarticulation was the most common complication, seen in 19 (57.6 per cent) patients; numbness of the tongue was the next commonest (10 (30.3 per cent) patients). None of the patients developed dysphagia.

Despite such morbidities as disarticulation and tongue numbness, end-to-end hypoglossofacial anastomosis is still an effective procedure for the surgical rehabilitation of static and dynamic facial nerve functions. Significant improvement in facial nerve function can occur more than three years post-operatively.

To assess contralateral suppression of transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and normal hearing.

Twenty-four female patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and 24 healthy female controls with normal hearing were assessed using pure tone audiometry and transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions.

All patients with fibromyalgia syndrome and all controls had normal hearing on pure tone audiometry. In the patients with fibromyalgia syndrome, the mean transiently evoked otoacoustic emission amplitude was 15.5 ± 4.8 dB. The mean transiently evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes after contralateral suppression was 15.5 ± 4.9 dB. There was no statistically significant difference between the transiently evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes measured before and after contralateral suppression (p > 0.05). In the controls, the mean transiently evoked otoacoustic emission amplitude was 12 ± 5 dB. The mean transiently evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes after contralateral suppression was 11 ± 4.7 dB. There was a statistically significant decrease in transiently evoked otoacoustic emission amplitudes after contralateral suppression (p < 0.01).

The mechanisms related to contralateral suppression of transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions seem dysfunctional in fibromyalgia syndrome. This dysfunction may be at the brain stem level, where the medial superior olivary complex is located, or at the synapses of medial superior olivary complex fibres with the outer hair cells in the cochlea. Demonstration of lack of contralateral suppression of transiently evoked otoacoustic emissions can be used as a diagnostic tool in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

To define the impact of patient-related and audiovestibular parameters on the prognosis of sudden hearing loss.

Eighty-three patients were included in this retrospective study. All were treated medically. We recorded the patients' demographic parameters, systemic diseases, time elapsed between onset of sudden hearing loss and initiation of treatment, tinnitus, vestibular symptoms, type of initial audiogram, pure tone averages and speech discrimination scores. For all patients, audiological measurements were performed on initial admission and at the completion of treatment on the 10th day.

There was no correlation between the hearing gain and recovery rate scores and patients' gender or age (p>0.05). However, a correlation was found between gender and relative hearing gain. Vertigo was not correlated with hearing gain and recovery rate scores (p<0.05). However, relative hearing gain correlated negatively with the presence of vertigo (−r=0.05, 81 degrees of freedom, p=0.043). Patients with <40 dB hearing loss on admission showed a better relative hearing gain (r=0.55, 81 degrees of freedom, p=0.03). Relative hearing gain correlated positively with better pre-treatment speech discrimination scores (r=0.82, 81 degrees of freedom, p=0.009) and negatively with poorer pre-treatment pure tone averages (−r=0.082, 81 degrees of freedom, p=0.009). There was no correlation between the scores for hearing gain, relative hearing gain and recovery rate and: systemic diseases (p>0.05); time elapsed between onset of sudden hearing loss and initiation of treatment (p>0.05); type of audiogram on initial admission (p>0.05), except for midfrequency type of audiogram; and tinnitus (p>0.05).

The outcome of sudden hearing loss was unaffected by systemic disease, tinnitus or type of audiogram (except for midfrequency type). The following were poor prognostic factors in the outcome of sudden hearing loss: female gender, presence of vertigo, initiation of treatment more than seven days after onset of hearing loss, and >40 dB hearing loss on admission.