Balance and hearing are connected within the inner ear – why this matters – Healthy Hearing
Walking and moving without falling or feeling dizzy are tasks you can accomplish thanks to your balance system. As with many systems in your body, when it’s functioning properly, it’s easy to take your balance for granted.
Our balance system—also known as the vestibular system—is a complicated one. The brain relies primarily on information from three sources:
the tiny vestibular organs located in the inner ear
our eyes
sensations in our legs and feet (for…….
Walking and moving without falling or feeling dizzy are tasks you can accomplish thanks to your balance system. As with many systems in your body, when it’s functioning properly, it’s easy to take your balance for granted.
Our balance system—also known as the vestibular system—is a complicated one. The brain relies primarily on information from three sources:
- the tiny vestibular organs located in the inner ear
- our eyes
- sensations in our legs and feet (formally known as proprioception)
What is the vestibular system, anyway?
The vestibular system helps us maintain our balance, orient ourselves in space, and navigate our environment, explained Jennifer Stone, PhD, a research professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at the University of Washington, during an October 2021 Hearing Health Foundation (HHF) webinar on the relationship between balance and hearing.
All of these functions, Stone said, mean that having it work properly is “crucial for our wellbeing.”
It’s made up of five organs, each with a different function. “It’s the integration of these five organs that’s really important for how the vestibular system works,” she said. That’s what tells the brain “how we are oriented in space and how we are moving.”
Balance organs in the inner ear
- The three semicircular canals: These canals are filled with fluid. As you rotate your head, the fluid causes cupula—sail-like structures at the end of the canals—to move, bending hair cells, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).
- Two otolith organs (utricle and saccule): Inside these organs are tiny stones, known as otoconia, that move in response to gravity. This is how your brain knows whether you are standing up or lying down, for example.
Balance problems are very common, especially as we age
Feeling dizzy is common, especially as we
get older.
Whenever there’s a delicate process happening within your body, there’s potential for it to go awry.
Statistics vary, but around 15 to 20 percent of American adults experience balance or dizziness problems every year, estimates show. This increases with age: A much-cited study in the Journal of Vestibular Research found that 35 percent of adults (age 40+) in the United States experience balance dysfunction.
There’s a variety of reasons equilibrium issues are more common with age. For instance, some vestibular disorders are more common as we get older, according to Dr. Cameron Budenz, MD, medical director of the Audiology and Cochlear Implant Center at Phelps Hospital, Northwell Health in Sleepy Hollow, New York.
With age also comes changes to vision or a …….
