Meeting in the middle… ear! Characterizing multifrequency tympanometry measures in ears with and without endolymphatic hydrops

Authors

• SM Avenilla
• J Chisholm
• J Telischi
• T Wafa
• J Butman
• N Allemang
• C Brewer
• J Christensen
• C Zalewski
• AS Le
• A Tran
• M Hoa
• GL Poling

Abstract

Patients with hearing instability disorders, including but not limited to Meniere’s disease, often have endolymphatic hydrops (EH) which is expansion of the endolymph-containing compartment of the inner ear. EH can be associated with fluctuating hearing, aural fullness, dizziness, episodic vertigo, and tinnitus. This expansion of the membranous labyrinth can be identified by delayed contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Existing research suggests multifrequency tympanometry (MFT) may identify middle ear biomarkers for these inner ear disorders, namely resonance frequency and the peak width of the admittance curve at 2 kHz. This longitudinal study uses MFT testing to characterize middle ear measures in MRI-confirmed hydropic and non-hydropic ears of patients with hearing instability. Comprehensive audiometric and MFT measures were collected from hydropic ears (n=19) and non-hydropic ears (n=37) at three-month intervals, for fifteen months. The MFT measures were compared to those of healthy volunteer ears (n=19) collected at a baseline and a three month follow up visit. The stability of these measures over time will be addressed in the analysis. Preliminary analysis suggests hydropic ears exhibited smaller tympanometric peak pressure changes between visits and narrower 2 kHz peak widths compared to the non-hydropic ears. Both hydropic and non-hydropic ears had larger peak admittance compared to healthy ears. While these groupwise differences align with previous findings for MFT identifying EH biomarkers, their variability across measures may limit their clinical utility. Further research is needed to determine correlations with volumetric MRI data and to understand the within-group variance of these measures.

Scientific Focus Area: Clinical Research

This page was last updated on Tuesday, August 6, 2024