Imagine seeing life through a handheld video camera. When you are still everything seems fine; but as soon as you start to move, the picture is far from perfect. Even a small step creates a jostling of the screen, leading to blurry, jumpy vision. This is how people with severe bilateral vestibular hypofunction (BVH) see the world due to a complete lack of neural input from either ear. But there is hope!
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine reports on long-term improvements (six months and one year post implant) in quality of life and balance measures in BVH patients who have received a unilateral vestibular implant. The vestibular implant works using similar technology that we see in cochlear implants. Instead of a speech processor, acceleration and directional information are transformed into electrical impulses, stimulating the peripheral structures in one ear. Subjects saw general improvements in several measures of functional abilities. However, some decrease in hearing thresholds in the implanted ear were observed. Overall, the study results are promising and offer an exciting glimpse into the future of vestibular science.
Reference
Chow MR, Ayiotis AI, Schoo DP, et al. (2021) Posture, gait, quality of life, and hearing with a vestibular implant. New Eng J Med. 384(6):521-532. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2020457.
Related Posts
Honoring Our Service Members: Supporting Our Veterans
This Memorial Day, we honor those service members who have died in military service in the United States. The day was originally called Decoration Day, so named for the tradition of decorating graves with wreaths, flowers, and flags commemorating those who have passed on. While the day was widely observed after the Civil War, and…
Exploring New Sounds with the World’s Largest Trees
What does one of the world’s largest lifeforms sound like? That was a question Ari Daniel asked on a recent National Public Radio (NPR) “All Things Considered” episode. Pando is a quaking aspen tree that has spread to cover over 80 football fields in Fishlake National Forest, Utah. While Pando may resemble a forest, what…
Mental Health, Quality of Life, and Communication in Children Diagnosed with Hearing Loss
Based on parent and teacher report, the prevalence of mental health problems is twice to four times higher in children diagnosed with hearing loss when compared to those peers without a hearing loss. Interestingly, children who are Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/hh) and hard-of-hearing (HH) typically do not rate themselves as having significantly higher mental health…