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Vertigo, Meniere's Disease and Sound Therapy

Vertigo is the sensation that you or your surroundings are spinning, even though you and your surroundings are stationary. The illusion of movement is what sets vertigo apart from general dizziness.

Meniere's disease - a combination of vertigo, hearing loss and tinnitus - may be one of the most debilitating conditions a person can suffer from. Sudden attacks of dizziness, often severe enough to cause nausea and vomiting, come unexpectedly and can incapacitate the sufferer for weeks at a time.

Sound Therapy has brought welcome and lasting relief to many Meniere's sufferers, and has been able to restore normal living to those who previously lived in horror of the unpredictable sense of spinning out of control which could be triggered by lifts, staircases, heights, and large gatherings.

Learn more about what Sound Therapy is.

Photo courtesy of dospaz

How Sound Therapy helps Meniere's Disease

Sound Therapy pioneer Dr Tomatis had a unique theory on how Sound Therapy helps to alleviate Meniere's Syndrome. He believed that the excess pressure in the vestibular system (the semicircular canals in the ear) is caused by spasms or twitches in the stirrup muscle.

The stirrup muscle is one of the middle ear muscles and its role is to regulate the pressure on the inner ear fluid. The footplate of the stirrup presses on the oval window, the membrane which separates the middle ear from the inner ear chamber. Therefore when the stirrup muscle goes into spasm, there is a sudden change in the pressure in the inner ear fluid, causing a disturbance like a sudden storm to pass through the semi-circular canals. This communicates to the brain via the vestibular branch of the auditory nerve, that there is sudden movement of the head, which gives one the feeling that the world is spinning or falling away beneath them.

Tomatis explains that once the stirrup muscle has been rehabilitated with the regular exercise provided by the Sound Therapy program, it no longer goes into spasm and the Meniere's attacks do not recur.

Learn more about how Sound Therapy rehabilitates the ear.

Listener's Stories

Darrell Johnson - Saskatchewan, Canada

"About four years ago I started getting ringing in the left ear, followed by light-headedness and dizziness. Sometimes I couldn't stand without falling. This I was getting about once a month, then twice a month, soon twice a week and not long later three or four times a day. My doctor told me I had Meniere's Syndrome, which is a problem of the inner ear past the stirrup. There wasn't much that could be done; I would just have to put up with it. Being my age was 53, I knew I would be quite some time putting up with this problem.

"Then I heard about Sound Therapy. I bought the Sony Walkman and tapes. Now, four months later, I have no light-headedness and dizziness, and the ringing in my left ear has gone. The hearing in my left ear has also improved. I can't express how much Sound Therapy has done for me. I am never dragged out and tired any more. I can stay up very late at night and still get up rested early in the morning. Also, I don't get uptight and stressed about the little setbacks of the day, but can just relax and take them in my stride. I even find it easier to talk to people - am not so shy! It's like a new life."