VALUE OF THE CALORIC TEST OF THE LABYRINTH

Abstract

THE CALORIC test is an easy way of examining the function of the vestibular organ. The results of the test are used not only in otologic practices, for ascertaining the remainder of function left in cases of labyrinthitis or other labyrinthine deviations, but also in neurologic or otoneurologic practices, for other purposes. Neurologists use the test especially for the examination of the central vestibular organ. Many conclusions are drawn from the caloric test on the function of a labyrinth, such as hyperexcitability and hypoexcitability, or of the central nervous system, such as directional preponderance. But the normal reaction in normal subjects has not been studied seriously until now. In the opinion of some authors, the caloric reaction shows a pattern, which is called pathologic in normal subjects by most investigators. Streit,¹ in military examinations, often noted a dominance of the reaction of one labyrinth after the caloric test, and Lundberg²