Otolithic Responses and Behavioural Balance in Children with and without Cochlear Implants

Abstract

Cochlear implantation is widely accepted as a safe technique for hearing restoration in individuals with congenital hearing loss. However, there is growing evidence for a vestibular periphery damage in cochlear implant recipients. The present study aimed to compare air-conducted (AC) and bone-conducted (BC) stimuli-evoked cervical and ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP and oVEMP) among typically developing children (TDC), children with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), and those with cochlear implants (CI) and study the correlation of their findings with behavioral balance evaluations. The study included 60 children, with equal numbers in TDC, SNHL, and CI groups. cVEMP and oVEMP and Pediatric balance scale (PBS) were administered in all of them. The response rates were lower in the SNHL and CI groups than TDC groups. The implant ears had significantly lower amplitudes than the non-implant ears (p < 0.05). The BC modality VEMPs had better correlation with the PBS scores than AC modality ones. Therefore, it is crucial to assess post-implantation vestibular dysfunction in cochlear implant recipients using appropriate tests to avoid overestimating the vestibular dysfunction.