Why Audiology and Neurology work hand in hand

NBN would like to welcome Jo Oakes BA MPH MCAud- Clinical Audiologist and Trainee Neurophysiology Technician- to the team.

Northern Beaches Neurology has welcomed a Clinical Audiologist, Jo Oakes, to the team. Jo has specialist knowledge of the inner ear and will be conducting our vestibular function testing clinic.

Patients with vestibular dysfunction are often referred onto Neurologists as a result of their symptoms of dizziness, vertigo, general gait unsteadiness, oscillopsia and changes in hearing or perception of sounds, such as tinnitus.

Clinical Audiologists working alongside Neurologists specialise in tests to identify whether the vestibular dysfunction is a result of a peripheral or central vestibular disorder. Vestibular dysfunction can have debilitating impacts on an individual’s quality of life, therefore early diagnosis and prompt treatment is vital.

Peripheral vestibular dysfunction has a clinical diagnosis where the patient’s history of symptoms is important to accurately identify the cause. Peripheral vestibular dysfunction can be acute, presenting with sudden and severe vertigo.

Central vestibular is more often associated with other neurological symptoms and may initially present with sporadic episodic vertigo and ataxia without other localising symptoms.

Recent advances within the audiovestibular field have allowed for more non-invasive tests to accurately identify location and degree of many pathologies of the vestibular system. Northern Beaches

Northern Beaches Neurology vestibular function tests include multidirectional video head impulse testing (V-HIT) to assess all six semicircular canals, ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (o-VEMPs) and cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (c-VEMPs) to assess the utricle, saccule and vestibular nerve, and auditory brainstem response (ABR) to assess the functional status of the auditory neural pathway.