We are interested in seeing which biomarkers are involved in the pathophysiological pathways of vestibular migraine and Meniere's disease. To this end, we will have eligible patients undergo peripheral blood draws to establish a biobank. The blood samples collected will undergo in vitro testing to determine the cytokine profiles of the immune cells and will also undergo genetic testing. Data and samples collected will be used for future studies as well.

As people get older, understanding speech in a noisy environment can become more difficult. The MUSC Hearing Research Program is seeking healthy adults between 25 and 89 years of age to participate in a research study to investigate the connection between listening difficulties and the brain. Payment is provided for participation and scheduling is flexible. The study involves two visits. Participants must be able to complete an MRI. Please contact us if you would like to participate in this research or learn more about our study.

This project examines how to improve speech understanding with cochlear implants (CIs), particularly for older CI recipients. While older individuals benefit from CI technology, performance is poorer than that of younger implanted adults for difficult listening tasks. The mechanisms that contribute to this variability are not well-understood. The current project examines how differences in brain structure and function may contribute to success with a cochlear implant. To compare, we will also be examining how older patients without cochlear implants understand speech in difficult listening situations.

Patients with chronic or episodic recurrent dizziness will track their vestibular symptoms with every episode in the iPhone application, Vertige. They will track their symptoms at the conclusion of every episode for a total of six (6) months. The app has a geolocation software that will pair environmental data (barometric pressure, temperature, humidity, etc.) with symptoms. We will then analyze the data to evaluate for associations.

The study will include 9 key informant interviews discussing how patients developed their impression of the benefit of an implant and how patients prefer expectation data be relayed. No video recordings will be performed during interviews. Interview notes or audio recordings will be taken and uploaded into a password protected network server. The results of interviews will mainly be descriptive. To test the plasticity of preoperative patient expectations and the impact of the CI evaluation the CIQOL expectations form will be administered prior to CI evaluation, directly after the CI evaluation, and prior to surgery for all patients who are undergoing cochlear implantation and meet inclusion/exclusion criteria and agree to participate. The decisional conflict scale will also be administered directly after the CI evaluation and prior to surgery for the above patient group. The 9 patients who undergo key informant interviews will also be part of the larger study group of 200 patients and have the same surveys administered and be subject to the same inclusion/exclusion criteria. The group of patients will also be asked about how they prefer expectation and QOL data to be relayed. All survey data will be collected in a secure RedCap database. Patients expectations at the three preoperative timepoints will be compared using paired T-tests. Data regarding how patients develop expectations and how they prefer expectation data to be presented to them will be mainly qualitative and discussed in terms of the most common themes from patient surveys and interviews. When exploring how patients prefer expectations and QOL data to be relayed we intend to include numbered clinical vignettes relaying differing levels of hearing capability. We will compare relaying information through vignettes to more conventional outcome measures such as speech recognition and QOL scores to determine which is the more effective means of communication.

Meniere's disease is a common cause of vertigo that becomes more common with age. Unfortunately, Meniere's disease and vestibular migraine have significant overlap and are sometimes difficult to diagnose. This is due to a lack of understanding of the true cause of Meniere's disease. Due to the lack of a biomarker (an objective test), the diagnosis of Meniere's disease has been based on clinical history and hearing loss. We are exploring ways to differentiate Meniere's disease and vestibular migraine, potentially through a lab test. In addition, identifying biomarkers may help early diagnosis and direct more personalized treatment strategies, especially early on before hearing loss occurs.

Older adults typically have trouble identifying the speech they hear, especially in noisy environments. Fortunately, compared to younger adults, older adults are better able to compensate for difficulties identifying the speech they hear by recruiting the visual system. However, the extent to which older adults can benefit from visual input, and how this influence relates to age-related changes in brain structure and function, have not been thoroughly investigated. The general purpose of this study is to determine how age-related changes in brain structure and function affect how well people hear and see. This study seeks participants with normal hearing to mild hearing loss, who also have normal or corrected-to-normal vision.