Otoacoustic emissions evoked in Ménière's disease

Cross-sectional study with a sample composed of 60 individuals, aged 19 to 75 years, divided into two groups: study group, with 32 individuals with a medical diagnosis of Ménière’s disease, without other risks and a control group formed by 28 individuals with cochlear loss without Meniere’s disease, age and sex matched to the study group. Eligibility criteria: type A curve, without conductive or mixed loss or suspected retrocochlear alteration. The audiological evaluation consisted of anamnesis, inspection of the external acoustic meatus, pure tone audiometry, logoaudiometry, measures of acoustic immittance and transient evoked otoacoustic emissions and distortion product.

Results

Individuals with Ménière’s disease had a higher occurrence of unilateral hearing loss, low pitch tinnitus, vertigo and ear fullness in relation to the control. In these individuals, there was greater incompatibility between the results of OAE and pure tone audiometry: in unilateral hearing loss, alterations in OAE were observed in ears with normal hearing thresholds on the contralateral side, characterizing cochlear dysfunctions. In the ears with cochlear loss, there was the presence of TEOAE and absence of DPOAE, in contrast to the control group, which showed the absence of TEOAE and DPOAE, as expected in cochlear losses of other etiologies.

Conclusion

The investigation of emissions in Ménière’s disease identified cochlear dysfunction in the contralateral ear in unilateral cases and the presence of TOAE with absence of DPOAE in ears with hearing loss, differentiating from cochlear losses of other etiologies.

Keywords:
Hearing tests; Ménière's disease; Hearing loss; Vertigo; Tinnitus; Endolymphatic hydrops; Hearing

Variable	Category	Group						p-value
		Study		Control		Total
		n	%	n	%	n	%
Type of loss	Unilateral	11	34.38	3	10.71	14	23.33	0.037 ^* * Statistically significant at 5% level (p ≤ 0.05)
Type of loss	Bilateral	21	65.63	25	89.29	46	76.67
Tinnitus classification	Severe	28	87.50	15	53.57	43	71.67	0.005*
Tinnitus classification	Acute	4	12.50	13	46.43	17	28.33	0.005*
Vertigo	Present	26	81.25	11	39.29	37	61.67	0.001*
Vertigo	Absent	6	18.75	17	60.71	23	38.33	0.001*
Ear fullness	Present	16	50.00	3	10.71	19	31.67	0.002*
Ear fullness	Absent	16	50.00	25	89.29	41	68.33	0.002*

TEOAE	Category	Group						p-value
		Study		Control		Total
		n	%	n	%	n	%
1000 Hz	Present	28	52.83	24	45.28	52	49.06	0.560
1000 Hz	Absent	25	47.17	29	54.72	54	50.94	0.560
2000 Hz	Present	28	52.83	21	39.62	49	46.23	0.242
2000 Hz	Absent	25	47.17	32	60.38	57	53.77	0.242
3000 Hz	Present	27	50.94	18	33.96	45	42.45	0.115
3000 Hz	Absent	26	49.06	35	66.04	61	57.55	0.115
4000 Hz	Present	25	47.17	13	24.53	38	35.85	0.025 ^*
4000 Hz	Absent	28	52.83	40	75.47	68	64.15	0.025 ^*

DPOAE	Category	Group						p-value
		Study		Control		Total
		n	%	n	%	n	%
1000 Hz	Present	12	22.64	18	33.96	30	28.30	0.140
1000 Hz	Absent	41	77.36	35	66.04	76	71.70	0.140
2000 Hz	Present	11	20.75	10	18.87	21	19.81	0.500
2000 Hz	Absent	42	79.25	43	81.13	85	80.19	0.500
3000 Hz	Present	13	24.53	8	15.09	21	19.81	0.165
3000 Hz	Absent	40	75.47	45	84.91	85	80.19	0.165
4000 Hz	Present	7	13.21	6	11.32	13	12.26	0.500
4000 Hz	Absent	46	86.79	47	88.68	93	87.74	0.500
6000 Hz	Present	4	7.55	4	7.55	8	7.55	0.642
6000 Hz	Absent	49	92.45	49	92.45	98	92.45	0.642
8000 Hz	Present	3	5.66	2	3.77	5	4.72	0.500
8000 Hz	Absent	50	94.34	51	96.23	101	95.28	0.500

Variable	Category	Group						p-value
		Study		Control		Total
		n	%	n	%	n	%
Joint result	absent TEOAE and DPOAE	30	46.88^a	42	75.00^b	72	60.00	0.022 ^* * Statistically significant at 5% level (p ≤ 0.05). Letters (a) indicate subsets of the “group” variable whose column proportions are not significantly different from each other at 5% significance level (p ≤ 0.05)
	present TEOAE, absent DPOAE	28	43.75^a	11	19.64^b	39	32.50
	present TEOAE and DPOAE	6	9.38^a	3	5.36^a	9	7.50

Compatibility	Category	Group						p-value
		Study		Control		Total
		n	%	n	%	n	%
RE	Compatible	17	53.13	21	75.00	38	63.33	0.109
RE	Incompatible	15	46.88	7	25.00	22	36.67	0.109
LE	Compatible	16	50.00	18	64.29	34	56.67	0.350
LE	Incompatible	16	50.00	10	35.71	26	43.33	0.350
Individual	Compatible	9	28.13	17	60.71	26	43.33	0.018 ^* * Statistically significant at 5% level (p ≤ 0.05)
Individual	Incompatible	23	71.88	11	39.29	34	56.67

Academia Brasileira de Audiologia Rua Itapeva, 202, conjunto 61, CEP 01332-000, Tel.: (11) 3253-8711, Fax: (11) 3253-8473 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revista@audiologiabrasil.org.br

Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS

[1] Conflict of interests: No.