Balance Disorders, Tinnitus, and Sound Tolerance

Vocabulary terms covering vestibular testing, balance rehabilitation, tinnitus management, and sound tolerance disorders based on the lecture notes.

Vestibular system

How our inner ear works with our visual system and proprioceptive sensations to maintain balance.

Electronystagmography (ENG)

A test where electrodes are placed around the eyes to measure electrical potential changes with eye movements.

Videonystagmography (VNG)

A test that uses an infrared video system with small cameras inside goggles to track eye movement in response to different tests.

Caloric testing

Stimulating the labyrinth by applying water or air (cold or warm) to the tympanic membrane to observe rapid eye movements.

COWS

An acronym for caloric testing results, standing for cold-opposite-warm-same.

Rotary Chair

A test where the patient sits in a mechanical chair that rotates while goggles measure oscillatory movements of nystagmus.

Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP)

Assesses the ability to coordinate movement by measuring vestibulospinal reflexes while the patient stands on a rotating platform.

Vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP)

A sound evoked muscle reflex generated from stimulation of the saccule used to stabilize the head in response to unpredictable movements.

Saccule

A vestibular end organ that senses linear acceleration.

Perilymphatic fistula

An inner ear condition that may be indicated by asymmetries in VEMP responses.

Adaptation exercises

A form of vestibular rehabilitation involving the repetition of movements that cause dizziness to allow the brain to habituate.

Balance retraining

Exercises designed to improve muscle responses and enhance the integrity of sensory information from the ears, eyes, and muscle receptors.

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)

A condition where patients experience vertigo due to free floating particles in their balance system.

Eply manuuever

A balance treatment where an audiologist moves the patient's head in a sequence of positions to reposition otoconia within the semicircular canals.

Otoconia

Particles within the balance system that are repositioned during an Eply manuuever to treat BPPV.

Tinnitus

A symptom of an underlying issue characterized by reports of buzzing, hissing, roaring, beeping, whistling, chirping, or clicking.

Subjective Tinnitus

The most common form of tinnitus, which is purely subjective to the patient's sensation of the sounds.

Objective Tinnitus

Tinnitus sounds generated by blood vessels or muscles near the ear that can be heard with a stethoscope.

Tinnitus Retraining Therapy

A treatment where patients work to habituate to their condition and use sound generators to decrease the disturbance of the tinnitus.

Neuromonics

A systematic desensitization of tinnitus through a device providing a perception of tinnitus within a relaxing acoustic stimulus.

Hyperacusis

A reduced tolerance to loud sounds resulting from decreased inhibition within the central auditory system, where discomfort can occur at levels as low as $20-25\,dBSL$.

Misophonia

A negative reaction to soft sounds that have a specific pattern or meaning, with triggers such as chewing, pen clicking, or keyboard typing.