HEAD INJURY AUDIOLOGICAL AND VESTIBULAR FINDINGS

1. A number of the findings obtained from otoneurological examinations of 110 head-injured patients have been presented. 2. The audiological findings have been noted; for the most part they fail to give information of value in localization of the lesion. Functional hearing losses are more common in mild than in severe head injuries. 3. Simple posture tests gave rise to visible nystagmus in 20 percent of the head-injured, and the finding is clearly pathological. 4. When nystagmus was recorded by ENG with eyes closed, spontaneous nystagmus was found in 23 percent of the series, and the finding was highly significant. 5. Positional nystagmus (special posture table, eyes closed, ENG recording) occurred in 36 percent of the patients, but in an even higher percentage of 30 normal subjects. 6. Dysrhythmia in post-caloric nystagmus was found in over 50 percent of the head-injured, but was also present in 80 percent of 30 normals. 7. Our evidence indicates that inferences that positional nystagmus and dysrhythmia in the ENG record of head-injured patients are significant of traumatic lesions, may not be warranted. © 1969, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.