The role of audiological features and horizontal semicircular canal function at various frequencies in vestibular migraine and Menière's disease.

Background: Vestibular migraine (VM) and Menière's disease (MD) have numerous overlapping symptoms. Distinguishing the two common recurrent vestibulopathies was challenging.

Objectives: To assess the characteristics of hearing loss and the horizontal semicircular canal function in VM and MD.

Materials and methods: Various frequency horizontal semicircular canal function tests, including caloric test, video head impulse test (vHIT), and rotatory chair test, as well as multifrequency audiological test with pure-tone average (PTA), were carried out.

Results: The hearing threshold of all frequencies in VM is lower than that of MD (p < .05). The phase shift at 0.01 Hz, 0.02 Hz, 0.04 Hz, 0.08 Hz and 0.64 Hz was significantly different in VM and MD patients. The gain at 0.01 Hz differed between VM and MD (p < .05); the time constant (RTc) in VM patients was longer than that of MD patients (p < .05). The incidence of caloric test abnormality was 40% in VM patients and 68.3% in MD patients. The abnormal rate of horizontal semicircular canal vHIT was 3.2% in VM and 5.8% in the MD, and the rates of overt/cover saccades were 9.7% and 17.6%, respectively.

Conclusions: The degree and type of hearing loss were conducive to distinguishing between VM and MD, and the rotatory chair test was a necessary supplement.