Electrocochleography in Individuals with Meniere's Disease

Abstract

Background: Electrocochleography (ECochG) is a useful tool helping in the diagnosis of Meniere's disease (MD). Extra-tympanic ECochG is a non-invasive technique to record the amplitude of summating potential (SP) alone or the amplitude ratio of SP and action potential (AP). Objectives: The present study was aimed to measure the SP and AP amplitudes alone and the ratio (SP/AP) in individuals with normal hearing and in those with MD. Materials and Methods: A total of 63 ears from 34 individuals with normal hearing and those with MD were selected for the study. Individuals with MD had hearing impairment in the range of mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss. Extra-tympanic non-invasive ECochG recording was done for all the participants. Results: The results of the study revealed that in individuals with normal hearing, 75.75% of the individual ear had SP responses noticeable, whereas in individuals with MD, only 46.66% had SP waveforms present. Further, the mean latency and amplitude of SP were found to be 0.93 msec and 0.29 μV, respectively, in Meniere's ear, whereas in normal ears, they were 0.64 msec and 0.11 μV, respectively. In addition to that, a significant difference in SP/AP amplitude ratio between individuals with normal hearing and those with MD was also reported. Conclusion: Therefore, from the present study one can conclude that the SP values increase both in terms of latency and amplitude in pathological condition. Also, it can be concluded that SP/AP amplitude ratio can help in differentiating individuals with MD from individuals with normal hearing.