Labyrinthine symptoms subsequent to fenestration of the labyrinth.

THE NUMEROUS papers about the fenestration operation deal usually either with the technic or with the practical hearing results obtained. This paper serves another purpose. We have studied the spontaneous labyrinthine symptoms which are noticed immediately subsequent to the fenestration, also the fistula test. Since fenestration creates a fistula in the bony walls of the labyrinth, the operation offers a chance to study labyrinthine symptoms in man under circumstances which in the past could be produced only by experiments on animals. The paper has two parts: one dealing with the immediate symptoms subsequent to the operation and the other dealing with the fistula test. IMMEDIATE SYMPTOMS The reports concerning fenestration of the labyrinth emphasize the symptoms occurring subsequent to the operation, such as dizziness and spontaneous nystagmus, but apparently no effort is made to offer a more exact description of these symptoms. It is for this reason that we have