Given the following case study, identify the most likely condition affecting the patient and explain how the specific combination of symptoms points to a disorder involving the degeneration of inner ear structures.

Inner Ear Disorder Diagnosis

Analyze the following patient report and identify the most likely disorder affecting their inner ear. Explain your reasoning by connecting the patient's specific complaints to the characteristic symptoms of the disorder.

Ménière's disease is a condition that results in a degeneration of inner ear structures, leading to sensorineural hearing loss. Symptoms of this disease include hearing loss, tinnitus (a constant ringing or buzzing), vertigo (a sense of spinning), and an increase in pressure within the inner ear.

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- Deafness
- Congenital Deafness
- Conductive Hearing Loss
- Sensorineural Hearing Loss
- Ménière's Disease
- Vertigo
- Synesthesia
- Astereognosis
- Prosopagnosia

Disorders of Sensation & Perception

Sensorineural hearing loss is a type of hearing impairment that occurs when a hearing problem is associated with a failure to transmit neural signals from the cochlea in the inner ear to the brain. It is recognized as the most common form of hearing loss.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Tinnitus is an auditory symptom characterized by a constant ringing or buzzing sensation in the ears.

Tinnitus

Vertigo is a feeling of spinning or dizziness that may have a peripheral cause but often occurs alongside many other symptoms as a part of a specific condition. Vertigo is most commonly a symptoms of vestibular disorders, such as mal de debarquement syndrome or labyrinthitis. 

Vertigo

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Congenital deafness is a condition in which a person is born without the ability to hear.

Congenital Deafness

Which type of hearing loss occurs due to the cochlea failing to communicate with the brain?

Hearing Loss Multiple Choice Question

A neurological phenomenon where sensory stimuli are perceived through multiple modalities. For example, visual stimuli may also be perceived through taste.

Synesthesia

Also called face blindness. A condition characterized by the inability to recognize faces. Acquired prosopagnosia is caused by damage to the brain, particularly the fusiform gyrus. Developmental (or congenital) prosopagnosia is present from birth.

Prosopagnosia 

The inability to recognize objects by touching and feeling them.

Astereognosis 

A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing.

-  A microphone, which picks up sound from the environment.
-  A speech processor, which selects and arranges sounds picked up by the microphone.
-  A transmitter and receiver/stimulator, which receive signals from the speech processor and convert them into electric impulses.
-  An electrode array, which is a group of electrodes that collects the impulses from the stimulator and sends them to different regions of the auditory nerve.

Cochlear Implants

Sensorineural hearing loss can result from various factors, including aging, head or acoustic trauma, diseases such as measles or mumps, medications, environmental noise exposure, tumors, and toxins from certain solvents and metals.

Causes of Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Based on the following case details, identify where in the auditory pathway the hearing impairment is most likely occurring and explain your reasoning.

Auditory Pathway Malfunction

Sensorineural hearing loss cannot be treated with hearing aids. However, some individuals with this type of hearing loss might be candidates for a cochlear implant as a treatment option.

Treatment of Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Constant vertigo is a feeling of dizziness that does not stop, though it may increase or decrease in severity. Constant vertigo is a symptom often experienced by those disabled individuals with vestibular neuritis or those suffering from temporary Labyrinthitis.

Constant Vertigo

Episodic vertigo is vertigo that comes and goes. This may be due to environmental factors or it may be a sign of a disability, chronic condition, or vestibular disorder such as Meniere’s disease or benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. Often the specific cause or condition is determined by the presence or absence of other symptoms, such as hearing loss.

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