メニエール病におけるグリセロール負荷耳鳴バランステスト

抄録

The nature of the tinnitus in Meniere's disease was investigated quantitatively by the tinnitus balance test using the pure tone audiometer before and after the glycerol administration (glycerol loading-tinnitus balance test). The definite cases of Meniere's disease showed several types of change in tinnitus after the glycerol administration. They were as follows:(1) Some cases showed decreased loudness of the tinnitus without any change in the frequency of the tinnitus and in the pure tone threshold. (2) Some cases showed decreased loudness of the tinnitus associated with decreased pure tone threshold of that frequency. (3) Some cases showed decreased loudness of the tinnitus associated with the change in the frequency which did not accompany the change in the pure tone threshold. (4) Some cases showed change in the frequency of the tinnitus without any change in the loudness of the tinnitus and in the pure tone threshold. Some cases of the fluctuating hearing loss showed change in the loudness and the frequency of the tinnitus after the glycerol administration. However, the glycerol loading showed no effects on the sensorineural hearing loss of unknown origin which had no significant change in the pure tone threshold fora long time.
The glycerol loading-tinnitus balance test can differentiate the tinnitus which is associated with the endolymphatic hydrops from the tinnitus in the other types of sensorineural hearing loss, and therefore is useful as a routine tinnitus test.