Fluctuating Hearing Loss in Bilateral Endolymphatic Hydrops

Abstract

Five cases with bilateral Meniere's disease and three cases with contralateral delayed endolymphatic hydrops (DEH) were presented. These five Meniere patients were selected as they showed an unusual fluctuation of hearing which was bilaterally alternating (see-saw like) hearing change. In three of the five patients, hearing in the secondarily affected ear finally became worse than that in the first ear. Difference of the pathophysiological phase between right and left endolymphatic hydrops was supposed to be a cause for this ‘see-saw like’ phenomenon. Two of the three DEH patients showed the same unusual fluctuation as those with Meniere's disease. It became difficult to evaluate the fluctuated hearing in the first affected ear as the hearing loss became much more profound. But hearing of their secondary ears had never become worse than that in the first affected ears. There was no convincing evidence to explain the cause of hearing loss in the opposite ear of contralateral-type DEH. But this report shows that there are some clinical similarities as well as differences between bilateral Meniere's disease and contralateral-type DEH.