What is Vestibular Neuritis and Labyrinthitis?
Vestibular neuritis causes dizziness due to a viral infection of the vestibular nerve (see Figure 1). The vestibular nerve carries information from the inner ear about head movement. When one of the two vestibular nerves is infected, there is an imbalance between the two sides, and vertigo appears. Vestibular neuronitis is another term that is used for the same clinical syndrome. The various terms for the same clinical syndrome probably reflect our lack of ability to localize the site of lesion. While there are several different definitions for vestibular neuritis in the literature, with variable amounts of vertigo and hearing symptoms, we will use the definition of Silvoniemi (1988) who stated that the syndrome is confined to the vestibular system. Hearing is unaffected. Labyrinthitis is a similar syndrome to vestibular neuritis, but with the addition of hearing symptoms (sensory type hearing loss or tinnitus). The symptoms of both vestibular neuritis and labyrinthitis typically inclu
