A review about the research progress of the acoustical-electrical transducer for totally implantable cochlear implant / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Cochlear implantation has become a crucial approach for the treatment for patients with severe and profound sensorineural hearing loss. However, some patients would be embarrassed by the exterior components, which limited the patient′s social activities. The idea of totally implantable cochlear implant (TICI) was put forward to alleviate these inconveniences. The implantable acoustical-electrical transducer would be a breakthrough in the study of TICI. In this paper, a summary of all kinds of designs ideas was made.

Ocular and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in patients with peripheral vestibular disorders / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) and the cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) in patients with vestibular diseases.@*METHOD@#From March, 2011 to March, 2012, 13 patients (14 ears) with peripheral vestibular diseases were recruited. Each patient underwent conventional oVEMP and cVEMP examinations elicited by intensive air conducted sound (short tone burst, 500 Hz) in bilateral ears.@*RESULT@#Thirteen cases (14 ears) were included in this study. They were 3 cases (3 ears) with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, 3 cases (4 ears) with acoustic neuroma, 1 case (1 ear) with VII and VIII cranial nerve trauma after head injury, 2 cases (2 ears) with vestibular neuritis, 3 cases (3 ears) with Meniere's disease, and Icase (1 ear) with unilateral hypoplasia of the internal auditory canal. Altogether, oVEMP could be elicited in only 2 ears (14. 3%) and cVEMP were found abnormal in 11 ears (78. 6%).@*CONCLUSION@#The otolithic vestibular end organs and their input pathways could be examined by cVEMP and oVEMP examinations in patients with peripheral vestibular disorders.

The impact of cochlear implantation on cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

Recent studies suggest that changes of cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) could be observed postoperatively, which reflects the degree of damage to saccule caused by cochlear implant (CI). The waveform of cVEMP can display the influences of surgical methods, ear disease condition, machine status and other factors on saccule, therefore it shows important clinical value in diagnosis and treatment. Two possible changes of cVEMP may be observed after CI. One is negative response and the other is impairment, which reflects surgical injury to saccule with varing degree. However, a uniform quantitative conclusion in cVEMP parameters is still expected. By reviewing the studies in cVEMP of CI reciepients, a typical changing pattern was discovered and a more comprehensive understanding about vestibular changes after cochlear implant was achieved.

Effects of aging on air-conducted sound elicited ocular vestibular- evoked myogenic potential and cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential / 中华耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To identify the aging effects on air-conducted sound (ACS) elicited ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) and cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) in normal Chinese population.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Nighty-seven normal subjects (194 ears) were recruited for conventional ACS-oVEMP and ACS-cVEMP examinations. The candidates'age were 4-83 years old (Ave. ± SD, 45.7 ± 19.3), 41 male and 56 female, divided into 5 groups according to age. 500 Hz short tone burst was employed for examinations. Thresholds were identified and the parameters of the responses to 100dB nHL were calculated and compared among groups. SPSS 13.0 software was used to analyze the date.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>As the age growing, the response rate for oVEMP decreased. It was recorded 100% in both ≤ 10-year-old and 11-30-year-old groups, 84.00% in the 31-50-year-old group, 48.15% in the 51-70-year-old group and 15.00% in the > 70-year-old group; while that for cVEMP were 100% in both ≤ 10-year-old group and 11-30-year-old group, 82.00% in the 31-50-year-old group, 77.78% in the 51-70-year-old group and 45.00% in the > 70-year-old group. The thresholds elevated and the amplitudes decreased in both examinations with the age growing. However, latencies and latency-intervals of both oVEMP and cVEMP examinations displayed minor difference among groups except that nI latency of oVEMP prolonged with age growing.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>With the age growing, the otolithic end organ input pathways degenerate in normal subjects, as shown that ACS elicited oVEMP and cVEMP responsed less with higher threshold and smaller amplitude. The extremely low response rates of both VEMPs in the > 70-year-old group in this study indicates that VEMPs can only provide limited diagnostic information among very old people in clinical practice.</p>