Balance and Your Hearing

If you have vertigo, you may feel like the world is spinning, even while you’re standing still. Many people don’t know where to turn when they experience the symptoms of a balance disorder like vertigo. Here’s what you need to know to get treatment and feel steady again.
Why You Experience Vertigo
It’s normal to feel a spinning sensation after going on a park ride, spinning in circles, or even taking a boat ride. But when you have a balance disorder, that sensation is chronic, and it can arise without any external cause.
Your sense of balance – known as equilibrium – comes from communication between your inner ear and brain. When you move, fluid and hairs in your inner ear shift. This sends a signal to the brain to adjust and keep your body balanced. Vertigo occurs when the inner ear cannot function properly, usually because of some type of damage.
Possible Causes of Balance Disorders
The most common cause of vertigo is when calcium crystals move from their normal location and float throughout the inner ear. Other common causes include viral infections and head injuries. You may also experience a balance disorder if you have hearing loss. Because the inner ear controls our sense of balance, damage to it can impair both our balance and hearing.
How to Tell if You Have Vertigo
Vertigo creates a spinning sensation, while other balance disorders can cause similar symptoms, such as lightheadedness and a floating sensation. If you’re experiencing hearing loss, earaches, or tinnitus, let us know. This ensures we address both your balance and hearing.
Where to Seek Treatment
We can perform tests to verify your balance diagnosis and help you determine whether you’ve also experienced hearing loss.
To schedule a hearing evaluation today, please call Audiology Associates at 661-284-1900. Kevin Bolder, Au.D., Patrice Rifkind, Au.D., and John Davis, Au.D. are three of the best in Santa Clarita and San Fernando Valley. Visit our website at www.AudiologyAssociates.net or stop by our office located at 23838 Valencia Blvd, Suite 100 in Valencia.
We are hearing healthcare excellence!