Theme: Novel implants, therapies and fitting

ABSTRACT  
Objectives: Early detection of vestibular dysfunction enables early rehabilitation. Objective balance examination is of significant value because clinical identification is challenging. There are a multitude of tests that investigate different components of the vestibular system and each of these tests have advantages and disadvantages in its applicability. The aim of this study is to determine which combination of vestibular tests most efficiently determine vestibular hypofunction in children.
Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study investigates the diagnostic relevance of different balance examinations (vHIT, caloric testing, rotatory chair test and cVEMP) for testing vestibular hypofunction in children with SNHL aged 6 months -18 years. 103 participants were included at the outpatient clinic of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department of Maastricht University Medical Centre in the Netherlands and Antwerp University Hospital  in Belgium. Agreement and Cohen's kappa were calculated to evaluate inter-test agreement.
Results: This study illustrates that the inter-test agreement between the caloric testing and the rotatory chair is the highest. In 70.27% of the assessments the caloric testing and the rotary chair test agreed,  corresponding to the highest Cohen's kappa (0.390). The inter-test agreement between the cVEMP and the vHIT is the lowest, with an agreement of 50%. 
Conclusion:   The cVEMP and the vHIT have the lowest inter-test agreement, meaning that when these two tests are combined there is a high probability of identifying children with vestibular hypofunction. In conclusion, a test-battery comprising of cVEMP and vHIT is an efficient method to analyse children for vestibular hypofunction. 

Inter-test agreement of balance examinations in the diagnosis of vestibular dysfunction in children with sensorineural hearing loss

It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm, that on behalf of the Cochlear Implant centers of the Radboud UMC in Nijmegen and Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam to invite you to attend the 16th European Symposium on Pediatric Cochlear Implantation to Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 2023.

Yours sincerely, on behalf of the CI Centers at Radboud UMC and Erasmus MC,