Abstract
Observation of the external aperture of the vestibular aqueduct has hitherto been possible only in cadavers or dry temporal bones, but by applying three-dimensional surface reconstruction imaging, we succeeded for the first time in obtaining solid-looking images of this structure in living subjects. When the width of the external aperture of the vestibular aqueduct was measured in 58 subjects (10 normal ears, 23 ears with chronic otitis media and 25 ears with Meniere's disease), it was found to be significantly narrower in the affected ears of patients with Meniere's disease than in normal and chronic otitis media ears.
