Inner Ear Diseases
Diseases of the inner ear can affect the sense of balance and cause symptoms of motion sickness. Anemia, tumors of the acoustic nerve, exposure to abnormal heat, disturbances of the circulatory system, skull injuries, poisoning, emotional disorders, and hyperemia, or increased blood flow, may also cause these symptoms. Ménière’s disease results from abnormalities in the semicircular canals and produces nausea, hearing loss, a disturbed sense of balance, and tinnitus, or a persistent ringing in the ears. Destruction of the inner ear by cryosurgery or ultrasound is sometimes used to combat intractable dizziness. Damage to the organ of Corti in the inner ear accounts for the condition of many people who are either totally deaf or severely hearing-impaired. Scientists have addressed the difficulties of such people by developing an electronic device called a cochlear implant. This device is more sophisticated than a hearing aid, which merely increases the volume of the sounds that pass thr