Dizziness is a sense of feeling lightheaded or unsteady or woozy that is often accompanied by sensations of swaying, tilting, whirling, spinning, floating or moving which is also described as vertigo. Dizziness can hit even when you are lying down absolutely still.
Our body’s balance maintenance system is very complex. If the body parts like muscles, joints, eyes and inner ear get diseased or if that part of the brain that consolidates and analyses signals received from these parts is affected then dizziness can occur. Inner ear disorders show up as one of the more common causes of dizziness.
Occasional dizziness is not worrisome. However, a doctor should be visited if repeated episodes of dizziness is experienced for no apparent reason or for a prolonged period.
Causes of Dizziness
Meniere’s syndrome – This syndrome is connected to the inner ear’s fluid balance regulatory system. In this condition, the patient gets attack-like episodes that can last from 20 minutes to 24 hours.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) –The inner ear’s balancing section has delicate sensory units. BPPV can occur if these sensory units are damaged.
Vestibular neuritis (labyrinthitis) – This condition occurs due to inflammation of the inner ear nerve cells which are responsible for balance-controlling.
In some cases, dizziness can also result from medications such as those prescribed for seizure disorders (e.g., carbamazepine, phenytoin) or sedatives and antidepressant drugs.
Dizziness can also result from medicines prescribed for inner ear infections (e.g. gentamicin, streptomycin).
Alcohol intake can also cause dizziness.
Precautions & Treatments
If the cause of hearing loss is due to a condition called secretory otitis media (accumulation of fluid behind the ear-drum due to acute infection), the surgeon conducts a surgery called myringotomy grommet to restore hearing.
Children suffering from higher severities of hearing loss may require other types of technological assistance such as BAHA hearing system or a cochlear implant (an electronic device is partially implanted surgically into the cochlea)
Alternatives can be used along with speech therapy, special education, and FM (frequency modulated) or IR (infrared) systems to provide superior access to auditory information in afflicted children. If the condition is incurable, then based on hearing assessments hearing aids are prescribed.
For children who are too young or have delayed development issues, trained audiologists have two types of tests that do not require cooperation: –
1.Otoacoustic Emission (OAE) Test
Do not smoke around children.
2. Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) Test
Cooperative and alert infants or toddlers between the ages of 5 to 30 months are usually assessed for hearing through a test called the Visual Reinforcement Audiometry (VRA). Older children between 3-5 years of age are assessed through a technique called Play Audiometry.
