Incorporating evidence-based practice into your work can help you improve quality of life for people with dizziness, vertigo, and other balance-related issues. We know you’re busy, so in recognition of next week’s Balance Awareness Week, we’ve selected a few articles from ASHA’s journals that can help you in your role on the vestibular support team. We hope that the research below can help you try new ideas in the clinic—and maybe save a little time, too.

Vertigo, Fall Risk, and Ototoxicity

Perspectives of Emergency Physicians, Primary Care Physicians, and Otolaryngologists on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Vertigo: ASHA’s audiologists work alongside a variety of professionals in cases of vertigo and other balance issues. This article examines how these professionals  diagnose and treat vertigo, giving audiologists a unique perspective to aid in their work on the team.

The Effect of Different Sensory Perturbations on Postural Control and Fall Risk in Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Patients: People with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), the most common vestibular disorder, may experience balance problems in a variety of conditions. These authors investigated how audiologists could use postural control and sensory inputs in a variety of different conditions to properly assess the fall risk of people with BPPV.

Screening for Falls: A Prospective Pilot Study for the Audiology Clinic: Adults with hearing loss are at an increased risk of falling compared with their peers, and audiologists can play an important role in identifying patients with increased fall risk. This article looks at how audiologists can identify patients who may benefit from a fall risk assessment by asking straightforward case history questions during a routine screening.

Clinical Observations in Patients With Cystic Fibrosis–Related Diabetes and Self-Reported Ototoxicity Symptoms: Antibiotics, such as those used to treat respiratory infections in people with cystic fibrosis, can be ototoxic, causing tinnitus and vestibular problems. Learn about the connection between ototoxicity and diabetes—and whether or not people with cystic fibrosis–related diabetes are more likely to self-report ototoxicity symptoms.

Children and Young Adults With Hearing Aids or CIs

Vestibular Function Monitoring in a Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program: A majority of hearing-impaired children exhibit some degree of vestibular dysfunction—and may experience delayed gross- and fine-motor development. Audiologists should ensure that a vestibular screening protocol be an integral part of a pediatric cochlear implant (CI) program in order to identify and treat vestibular function as soon as possible.

Balance Performance in Young Adults With Hearing Aids: How Can It Be Affected by the Visual Cognitive Task? Outside factors such as sound cues and whether or not they’re wearing hearing aids can affect the postural control of hearing aid users. Here, the authors investigated if the hearing aid users’ balance was negatively affected when they were also asked to perform a cognitive task.

More for Balance Awareness Week!

A forum published last year in the American Journal of Audiology (AJA) gives audiologists and researchers an overview of vestibular disorders “from cause to cure.” This forum provides resources on diagnosing and treating vestibular disorders—alongside articles examining their causes. Three of ASHA’s Journals regularly publish research for ASHA’s audiologists:

Be sure to visit them all on ASHAWire and keep up to date with the latest on balance disorders, both this week and beyond.

The work of ASHA’s members goes well beyond speaking and hearing. This week, we encourage you to talk to friends and family about balance disorders and the important role that ASHA members can play in the lives of so many people.