Vertigo is a feeling of being disoriented, imbalanced, dizzy, & nauseous. Patients often feel that they or their surroundings are spinning around, even without any external movement being present.
Vertigo is rarely a disorder on its own; it’s almost always a symptom of some underlying disease.
People with Vertigo can experience a range of symptoms-from headaches to hearing problems, dizziness-and nausea.
Vertigo is also of two types; Peripheral vertigo & Central vertigo.
Peripheral Vertigo is caused by an inner ear infection or structural abnormalities. Head injuries or ear surgery can also cause it.
While Central Vertigo is caused by a problem with the brain & the parts of it that control balance.
Some central nervous system disorders can also cause it.
While vertigo usually isn’t a fatal condition, it can significantly alter the quality of one’s life.
The constant dizzy spells, nausea, & disorientation can make one anxious to ever go out or have a social life.
This is why vertigo treatment is necessary for people suffering from it. However, in order to effectively treat vertigo, it is important to first diagnose it properly.
An accurate vertigo diagnosis will help your doctor formulate an adequate vertigo treatment strategy for you.
How is Vertigo diagnosis made?
Vertigo diagnosis is made using certain vertigo tests. Doctors recommend each test to a patient based on their symptoms, presentation, & medical history.
There might be instances where doctors order multiple vertigo tests for a patient. This is usually seen when the patient’s symptom presentation is vague and doesn’t point towards any one specific condition.
Each vertigo test assesses different aspects of the vestibular system, which maintains the body’s balance & position in space.
Below, we’ll tell you about some of the most common vertigo tests that doctors use to determine if somebody has vertigo.
1. Dix-Hallpike Maneuver
Your doctor uses the Dix-Hallpike maneuver as a vertigo test when they suspect that you have Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo(BPPV).
BPPV is a type of peripheral vertigo that causes the patient to feel sudden spells of dizziness, nausea, headaches, & spinning sensations.
BPPV attacks usually occur all of a sudden, & can last for anywhere between a few minutes to a few hours.
They can come & go in different time intervals & may be quite troublesome to manage.
It is also the most common cause of vertigo, accounting for nearly 80% of all cases.
The Dix-Hallpike maneuver is a simple, movement-based test that looks for signs of BPPV in a patient.
To perform the test, your healthcare provider will move your head 45 degrees to one side. They will then have you lie on your back quickly with your head off the sides of the table. You will maintain this position for at least 30 seconds.
Your doctor will then check your eyes to look for signs of nystagmus & ask if you feel dizzy.
If you don’t feel dizzy, they will have you repeat the movements on the other side.
This test can lead to symptoms of vertigo in people that suffer from it. If you develop vertigo signs during the test, your doctor can easily confirm a BPPV diagnosis.
They will then work with you individually to develop a proper vertigo treatment plan for your specific case.
These can include vertigo exercises, vertigo medications, some home remedies, & dietary modifications.
Since BPPV is caused by an inner ear issue, resolving any infections that are the cause of BPPV is also an effective vertigo treatment.
In some cases, surgery might be necessary if the patient’s condition doesn’t improve with traditional treatment methods.
The Head Impulse Test:
The Head Impulse Test checks your Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex(VOR). It is basically a test to check how well your eyes & inner ear are functioning in cooperation.
Your doctor might recommend this vertigo test if they suspect you of having Vestibular Neuritis.
In this test, your doctor will quickly move your head and check for signs of nystagmus and unusual reflex functions.
The presence of unusual reflexes and nystagmus indicates vertigo in a patient.
There is also a video version of this test, called the Video Head Impulse Test. It helps look for nystagmus in a patient with the help of tiny cameras placed on both sides of the head.
The ENG test(Electronystagmography):
The ENG test is a well known vertigo test that checks for nystagmus and dizziness in a suspected vertigo patient.
ENG test checks for vertigo signs in a patient by looking at the movement of their eyes while their head is being moved in different directions.
Electrodes attached to either side of the head help track this eye movement.
To elicit eye movements & VOR, your doctor will also pass warm & cold air/water through your ear canal. This part of the test is also known as caloric testing.
Depending on how much the results vary from normal movement metrics, your doctor can make a positive or negative vertigo diagnosis.
The VNG test is a video version of the ENG test that uses cameras in place of electrodes.
Tiny cameras are placed on both sides of the head to keep track of the patient’s eye movements in response to the caloric stimulation inside the ear canal.
The cameras record eye movements and convey the results via a computer installed with the test instrumentation.
Similar to ENG, your doctor can look at the test results & determine if you indeed have vertigo or not.
The Dynamic Visual Acuity Test:
The Dynamic Visual Acuity Test(DVA) is used to look for early signs of vertigo & vestibulotoxicity. It is also helpful in the detection of bilateral peripheral vestibulopathy.
The test assesses the functioning of the VOR, more specifically, how it manages to concentrate any visual information on the fovea of the retina during head movements.
A patient with a VOR that’s not functioning properly will exhibit vision problems like blurred vision and oscilloscopia.
They might also experience vertigo-like symptoms and signs.
Vertigo is a feeling of being dizzy, nauseous, & imbalanced. Vertigo is the leading cause of dizziness and disorientation among adults.
It is of various types, each having different symptoms and course of vertigo treatment.
Your vertigo treatment highly depends on the exact type of vertigo you’re experiencing.
There are two types of vertigo: Central Vertigo, and Peripheral Vertigo.
Central Vertigo refers to a problem with the brain and the parts of it that control the body’s balance. Most often, it is caused by a problem with the central nervous system or the spinal cord.
Peripheral vertigo can be attributed to an inner ear issue, an ear infection, a head injury, or some other unknown cause.
It’s also important to remember that vertigo is not a disease in itself, rather a symptom of some underlying disorder.
It’s important to find out the exact cause of your vertigo in order to treat it effectively.
Types of Vertigo
There are two types of vertigo; central & peripheral. Central vertigo arises due to an issue with how the brain processes sensory information related to maintaining balance.
Peripheral vertigo is caused by an issue with the inner ear. The inner ear helps maintain the body’s balance & hearing through a delicate network of structures called the labyrinth, the vestibular nerve, & the auditory nerve.
When even a single one of these structures has a problem, the patient feels dizzy, out of sorts, & unbalanced.
Some of the most common causes of Peripheral Vertigo are:
Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo(BPPV): BPPV is caused by tiny calcium crystals in the middle ear breaking loose & depositing inside the semicircular canal of the inner ear. There, they cause problems with the way the inner ear maintains balance & sends signals to the brain. This makes a patient feel dizzy, disoriented, nauseous, & as if their surroundings are moving.
Vestibular Neuronitis, also known as Vestibular Neuritis: It is an infection of the vestibular nerve that leads to the nerve becoming swollen & inflamed. This causes hindrance in the transmission of balance signals from the brain to the inner ear & vice-versa through the concerned nerve. A lot of infections, including the cold, flu, measles, mumps, chickenpox, rubella, & more can cause Vestibular Neuritis.
Meniere’s Disease is another inner ear disorder that is caused by an excessive amount of fluid inside the ears. Meniere’s Disease leads patients to feel dizzy, nauseous, & other vertigo-like symptoms. It can also cause hearing loss, tinnitus, & a feeling of pressure inside the ears.
Other conditions that can cause Peripheral Vertigo to include:
Labyrinthitis: It is an inner ear infection caused by viruses or bacteria & tends to cause swelling in the labyrinth. It leads to people feeling dizzy, nauseous, & disoriented. Other vertigo-like symptoms are also common.
Perilymph Fistula: It is caused by an ‘opening’ or a break in one of the window membranes between the middle ear and the inner ear. It causes people to feel extra pressure inside their ears & vertigo-like symptoms.
Superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome(SSCDD): It is caused by a bony part of your semicircular canal, that carries fluid inside your ear, breaking down and leaking fluid from one part of the ear into another.
Head injuries, neck injuries, ear surgery, & any other issues too, can cause peripheral vertigo in some people.
Peripheral Vertigo treatment:
Most cases of Peripheral Vertigo are treated by addressing the exact underlying issue.
For BPPV:
Exercises like the Epley Maneuver, the Brandr-Daroff exercises, & the Semont maneuver help in vertigo treatment.
Anti-dizziness and anti-nausea medications also help.
Antihistamines
Anti-anxiety pills and antidepressants may also be recommended
Antibiotics & anti-viral medications may be given when vertigo is caused by an infection
Water pills, also known as diuretics, are given to patients with Meniere’s Disease.
Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy is recommended for patients with long-term, chronic vertigo.
Home remedies like taking Ginkgo Biloba, vitamin supplements, & getting a good night’s sleep are also recommended.
In some cases, surgery might be needed to fix any issues that aren’t responding to medication and exercises.
Peripheral Vertigo prognosis:
In most cases, peripheral vertigo is easily treatable & often goes away on its own without any medical intervention. In other cases, it can become chronic and recurring in nature, especially if the root of the problem is not addressed.
Central Vertigo:
Central Vertigo causes sudden, abrupt onset of vertigo symptoms. It also tends to last for a longer time period than peripheral vertigo, & is usually more severe than the former.
It’s common for patients to be unable to stand or walk properly during one of central vertigo attacks.
Uncontrollable nystagmus is also a key feature of central vertigo. It is severe and more random as compared to peripheral vertigo & doesn’t go away when you’re asked to fix your attention on a single object.
Hearing issues & tinnitus are rather uncommon with central vertigo. However, headaches, swallowing problems, general fatigue, and weakness are common signs of central vertigo.
Central Vertigo causes:
A spinal cord or brain injury is often what causes central vertigo in most people. Other conditions can also be the culprit at times. These include:
Any head injuries
Illnesses or infections
Multiple sclerosis
Migraines
Any kind of brain tumors
Strokes
Transient ischemic attacks(TIA), also known as mini-stroke. These are strokes that last for a short time and don’t usually cause any long-lasting damage to the vital organs.
Finding and treating the exact underlying cause of central vertigo is the best treatment for it.
For example, if Multiple Sclerosis is causing the central vertigo symptoms, then medications and therapies to manage it might help control central vertigo attacks too.
Similarly, for migraine induced central vertigo, migraine medicines and stress reduction activities might prove helpful.
The same goes for Brain Tumors, head injuries, spinal cord injuries, & other brain problems.
The adequate treatment of any underlying issues is the only way to treat & manage central vertigo in patients.
Additionally, you should always be on the lookout for signs and symptoms that may be a reason to visit the ER.
These include:
Slurred speech or bizarre movements
Fainting or losing consciousness
Vomiting profusely
inability to hold down food or liquids
Difficulty breathing
Confusion or lack of oxygen
If any of these symptoms appear with the vertigo-like symptoms of both types of vertigo, you should visit the emergency room immediately.
These could signify a larger problem than Vertigo.
You could also try performing some exercises to help get relief from your vertigo symptoms. However, before beginning any of the exercises, it’s best to consult with your doctor first. It is important to not make your condition worse than ever.
Hearing issues are one of the most common health issues adults visit an ENT for.
While hearing problems tend to begin in the late 40s & are most prominent in the elderly, younger people can experience it too.
A range of health issues can bring about hearing problems. These include certain infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders, injuries, accidents, surgeries, tumors, & side effects of some medications.
Certain disorders like Meniere’s Disease & Labyrinthitis can also cause hearing issues.
Tinnitus often presents with hearing issues, which causes the patients to lose their external hearing, sometimes completely.
Most patients have experienced significant improvement in their condition with the help of hearing aids.
Hearing Aids can help patients with varying degrees of hearing loss live productive, fulfilled lives.
However, many types of hearing aids exist in the market. Choosing the right one for your hearing loss is crucial to ensure they’re actually helpful for your condition.
In this article, we’ll tell you about the different types of hearing aids & tips on choosing the best hearing aids for your hearing issues.
Functioning of Hearing Aids:
Hearing Aids are digital devices that amplify external sounds in order to help the wearer hear those better.
They are usually powered by traditional batteries; some even come with rechargeable batteries.
Hearing Aids consist of the following parts:
Microphone: These capture external sounds from the surroundings around you & sends those to the amplifier.
Amplifier: As the name implies, it amplifies the sound received from the microphone & transcodes it into digital information bits. The amplifier is set to a certain frequency of sound, & only amplifies the sound upto the level of requirement. Since every individual has differing degrees of hearing loss, each hearing aid consists of amplifiers set to different frequencies according to specific requirements. The amplifier sends these digital signals to the speakers/receivers as a final leg of the hearing aid mechanism.
Receivers: These convert the digital signals sent by the amplifier into sound waves that can be heard by the patient. In some hearing aids, they are marked as ‘speakers’.
Types of Hearing Aids:
Hearing Aids differ by size, power, & usage. Different individuals require different kinds of hearing aids for their hearing issues.
Generally, your doctor will recommend the perfect hearing aid for your condition.
Still, it pays to know about the various types of hearing aids you can choose from.
Completely-In-The-Canal(CIC):
A Completely-In-The-Canal(CIC) hearing aid can easily fit inside your ear canal completely. This allows them to stay hidden from an external point of view. CIC hearing aids are useful for people that suffer from mild to moderate degree of hearing loss.
Since CIC hearing aid fits completely in the ear canal, it has several advantages. These include:
Least visibility from outside. Small size allows for easy portability.
Since it is inside the ear, it is less likely to pick up wind & other external noise.
However, it also has certain disadvantages. These include:
Come with extremely small batteries that don’t have a long life. Owing to their small size, CIC hearing aids can sometimes get difficult to handle.
CIC hearing aids often lack additional features like volume control & directional microphone.
Earwax buildup can easily clog the ears thus impacting the functioning of CIC hearing aids.
In-The-Canal(ITC) Hearing Aids:
An In-The-Ear canal is a custom made hearing aid, designed to fit only partially inside the ear canal. Like CIC hearing aids, ITC hearing aids also help people with mild to moderate hearing loss.
The advantage of ITC hearing aids is that it remains hidden from an external point of view. They also contain some enhanced features to support hearing loss that aren’t normally available in CIC hearing aids.
Its disadvantages include:
Handling issues due to its small size
Like CIC hearing aids, ITC hearing aids are also prone to earwax clogging blocking the ear canal.
In-The-Ear(ITE) Hearing Aids:
An In-The-Ear(ITE) hearing aid has two types. One type is designed to fit the outer ear that is a bowl-shape(also known as full shell). Another type is designed for fitting inside the lower part of the ear(also known as half shell).
Both are useful for people with hearing loss ranging from mild to severe.
ITE hearing aids also come with directional microphone support, which is useful for locating the exact source of the sound.
The advantages of ITE hearing aids include:
Extra features that aren’t included in other types of hearing aids, like volume control.
Are usually easier to handle than other completely-in-the-ear hearing aids.
Come with a larger battery with a longer lifespan.
ITE hearing aids also have some disadvantages. These include:
Easily visible from an external point of view
Functioning can get affected by excessive earwax
They might also pick up an increased amount of wind noise & other external disturbances.
Behind-The-Ear Hearing Aids:
A Behind-The-Ear hearing aid loops atop your ear & is located behind the ear. The hearing aid fits in your ear canal with a tube connecting it to the custom-made earpiece(also called the ear mold).
BTE hearing aids are the best hearing aids for people of all ages and support all kinds of hearing loss.
A Behind-The-Ear hearing aid has many advantages. These include:
Some new designs make it easy to hide BTE hearing aids. Normally, it is the largest hearing aid available in the market.
Consists of directional microphones
Has better sound enhancement & amplification capabilities
Its disadvantages include:
More wind noise and external interference
Might or might not come with rechargeable batteries
Receiver-In-The-Ear or Receiver-In-Canal hearing aids:
Receiver-In-The-Ear(RIE) or Receiver-In-Canal(RIC) hearing aids are quite similar to a behind-the-ear hearing aid. The speaker or receiver fits inside the ear canal in a similar manner.
However, in a RIE or RIC hearing aid, a tiny wire connects the ear piece to the speaker/receiver, unlike a tube in the case of BTE hearing aids.
RIE or RIC hearing aids are useful for treating mild to severe hearing loss in patients of all age groups.
A RIE or RIC hearing aid has many advantages. These include:
Its behind-the-ear portion is somewhat less visible than BTE hearing aids.
Consists of directional microphone
Also consists of manual control features
Generally comes with a rechargeable battery
Its disadvantages include its visibility from an external point of view & susceptibility to earwax clogging and blockage.
Open Fit hearing aids:
Open Fit hearing aids are a variation of behind-the-ear(BTE) & Receiver-In-The-Ear(RIE) or Receiver-In-Canal(RIC) hearing aids.
It basically consists of a BTE hearing aid modified with a thin connecting tube. In the case of RIE or RIC hearing aid, it consists of an open dome in the ear.
This design helps it to keep the ear canal open & free. It allows any low-frequency external sounds to enter the ear canal the natural way, & amplifies any other external sounds in an enhanced manner.
Thus, Open Fit hearing aids are a good choice for people who have adequate low-frequency hearing & only require other external sounds to be modified. They can easily help people with mild to moderate degree of hearing loss.
How to decide which is the best hearing aid for me?
These decisions are best left to an audiologist & ENT specialist. They can help you find the exact choice of hearing aid & even get it custom designed to better suit your needs.
Naturally, this requires an ample amount of data.
Your doctor will conduct elaborate hearing tests to find out the exact range of frequencies that you are able to hear.
Based on the results of the hearing tests, they will either recommend a readymade hearing aid to you or order a customized hearing aid that helps your hearing loss in the best possible way.
Getting the right hearing aid is important to live a healthy, meaningful life if you suffer from any degree of hearing loss. Putting off the decision to the future will only harm you & worsen your hearing progressively.
Consult with a hearing specialist & an ENT today.
Hearing loss creates a lot of problems in a person’s personal & professional life, & causes issues with their emotional well-being.
The causes of hearing loss can be diverse and not particularly related to any specific reason.
Certain diseases, illnesses, infections, medications, & accidents can lead to hearing loss, as can certain structural & genetic disorders.
Whatever the cause of hearing loss, hearing aids can help treat your hearing loss.
They can very easily help you hear properly & interact with other people more meaningfully.
However, it’s important to choose the right hearing aids for this purpose.
How do hearing aids work?
A hearing aid is basically a battery-powered electronic device that helps you hear external sounds more accurately.
They are quite tiny so they can easily be worn around or behind your ears, & they help make external sounds louder to help you easily hear those.
With the help of hearing aids, you can amplify external sounds which helps you communicate with the other people around you in a better way.
There are three components of a hearing aid. These are:
A microphone, that picks up external sounds
An amplifier that makes those sounds louder
A receiver that sends these amplified sounds into your ear.
However, hearing aids don’t benefit everyone who wears them. Hearing Aids often benefit those people who have damages to their inner ear and/or the nerve that links the ear with the brain.
The damage can be due to:
Disease
Aging
Loud noises
Medications
Hearing loss that occurs due to issues with the eardrum, ear canal, or middle ear, is called conductive hearing loss.
In most cases, surgery or any other medical intervention might help relieve the hearing loss of patients.
But these options are often not for everyone.
Typical Hearing Aids only work for you if you have an open ear canal & a relatively normal exterior ear canal.
Instead, a device that sends sounds to the inner ear through their skull bone, might be the best option for them.
How you can get a hearing aid?
An Ears-Nose-Throat(ENT) doctor can help you with the proper hearing aids for yourself.
These specialists can easily evaluate & help treat your hearing loss.
The ENT specialist will conduct exams to help you find out the best hearing aids for your case.
In addition to that, an audiologist will perform certain tests on you to figure out the exact type of hearing loss you’re suffering from.
You should always get hearing aids from a specialist, only after performing all the tests and due diligence.
Avoid mail-ordering hearing aids as they often don’t fit correctly, & don’t improve your hearing issues much.
Most people don’t experience hearing loss in both ears, however, some people do.
For people with hearing loss in both ears, it’s probably best to wear two hearing aids.
Types & Styles of hearing loss:
An audiologist can help you find the right kind of hearing aids for yourself. They will figure out the best kind of hearing aids for you depending on your exact degree of hearing loss, & also modify it according to any special needs you might have.
The factors that determine what kind of hearing aids is best for you:
The type of hearing loss you suffer from & its severity
Your age
Your experience & efficiency with small devices
Your lifestyle
The cost. Hearing aids costs can vary greatly in price, often ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars
Hearing Aids are primarily of two types. These include:
Analog hearing aids: These convert sound waves to electrical signals that help make the sounds louder. They’re generally less expensive than the other kind of hearing aids. They are also easier to handle as they have easier volume controls.
Digital hearing aids: These hearing aids convert sound waves into numerical codes much like computer codes, which then amplifies them.
The codes include information about the direction of a sound, its pitch, & its volume.
This helps the patient easily control & modulate the sound volume, frequency, & intensity according to their physical conditions & surroundings, i.e., whether they are in a quiet room, setting, or someplace noisy & loud. Most digital hearing aids are able to adjust such tiny details & nuances automatically, without any manual adjustments.
The automatic kind, however, costs significantly more than the manual digital hearing aids, but have shown better results & are also smaller in size, thus easier to handle. They are also more powerful than manual digital hearing aids.
Style of hearing aids:
There are three main styles of hearing aids. They differ in their size, placement in or over the ear, along with how much they help the patient hear external sounds.
These styles include:
Canal hearing aids: Canal hearing aids fit inside your ears which makes them harder to see. An In-the-canal(ITC) hearing aids are made to fit a specific canal of your ear. A completely-in-canal(CIC) hearing aid is smaller & nearly disappears inside the ear canal. Both types are used to treat moderate to severe hearing loss, however, since they are both extremely small, they can be difficult to adjust & remove.
Owing to this reason, these usually aren’t used for small children & older people who might have difficulty adjusting to them.
These devices are quite difficult to see, hence you might want to wear them every day, or even use them for several months at a stretch.
In-The-Ear(ITE) hearing aids: ITE hearing aids fit completely inside your ear. They come in a hard plastic case that holds the electronics parts.
They are used for people with mild to severe hearing loss, although they are not suitable for children whose ears are still growing in size.
Behind-The-Ear(BTE) hearing aids: BTE hearing aids sit encased in a hard plastic case behind your ears. A plastic ear molds fits inside the outer ear & directs sounds to the ear.
A different type, which is called Mini BTE, fits entirely behind your ear with a narrow tube that goes into your ear canal.
This tube helps prevent earwax from building up inside the ear, as well as helps make your own voice sound clearer.
BTEs can help treat mild to severe hearing loss, however, they aren’t for everyone.Receiver-In-Canal(RIC) & Receiver-In-the-ear(RIE) hearing aids: Both of these hearing aids have a behind-the-ear component that connects to the receiver in the ear or the ear canal with a tiny wire. This helps low-frequency sounds to enter the ear in a natural way & also helps the high-frequency sounds to be amplified through the hearing aid. RIC & RIE hearing aids help patients with mild to severe hearing loss.
You can also modify any of these devices according to your specific needs & requirements. Your doctor will help you define those needs & requirements, based on which they will specify the exact hearing aid for you. Book an Appointment: https://vertigoandearclinic.com/contact-us.php
