Abstract
We recently experienced a case of bilateral Meniere's disease in which a vertiginous attack occurred in 7 repeated episodes, each accompanied by a worsening of hearing in one ear and, conversely, an improvement of hearing in the opposite ear. The patient was a female who was first seen by us at the age of 55. She had been suffering from frequent attacks of rotatory vertigo and hearing loss, each associated with nystagmus, deviation of posture due to vestibular dysfunction, and a gross discrepancy in hearing between ears. During the course of 3 years, audiometry was performed a total of 29 times. On 7 of these 29 occasions, changes in hearing marked by its worsening in one ear and improvement in the other were noted. These changes in hearing were often accompanied by nystagmus of stimulated inner ear origin occurring on the side of worsened hearing. This otologic phenomenon, being of considerably short duration, can only be detected by repeating audiometry at least at weekly intervals. The phenomenon may advisably be expressed more intelligible yasa numeral, i. e. total hearing level or the sum of hearing levels at the seven frequencies of 125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 8000Hz.
