by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A couple wrote:
We found your writing on Large Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome (LVAS) and other topics extremely helpful.
We are wondering if the information on LVAS is up to date, or if there are recent developments since 2002 when you did the write up. We are also wondering which centers in the US, and the world, are working intensively on this problem.
Glad my article on Large Vestibular Aqueduct Syndrome (LVAS) helped you.
I’m not aware of any major breakthroughs in either the understanding of LVAS or its treatment–so the information is generally still up to date.
However, one thing that seems to have changed is the definition of exactly how large the vestibular aqueduct (VA) has to be in order to be considered enlarged. In my article it was defined as being 1.5 mm or larger at the midpoint of the VA. Currently, some doctors say this is much too large, and think the correct definition should be more like 0.8 mm or so.
I really don’t have an opinion on this as there doesn’t seem to be any clear correlation between the size of the VA and the resulting hearing loss. Thus there must be other factors that need to be discovered and evaluated.
The only major study on LVAS of which I’m aware is being conducted here in the USA at the National Institutes of Health. When it is completed (hopefully in the next 3 or 4 years), I think we will have a much better idea about LVAS than we do now. Until then, I guess we just have to wait.