Sudden unilateral hearing loss with simultaneous ipsilateral posterior semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo - A variant of vestibulo-cochlear neurolabyrinthitis?

We describe 4 patients who all simultaneously developed a sudden total or p artial unilateral sensorineural hearing loss and an unusual acute periphera l vestibulopathy in the same ear characterized by posterior semicircular ca nal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo with intact lateral semicircular c anal function. Two patients also had ipsilateral loss of otolith function. The vertigo resolved in all 4 patients after particle-repositioning maneuve rs. The findings of audiometry and vestibular tests indicated that the lesi on responsible for this syndrome was probably located within the labyrinth itself rather than within the vestibulocochlear nerve and that it was more likely a viral vestibulocochlear neurolabyrinthitis than a labyrinthine inf arction.