While diagnosis and treatment consensus has been established for vestibular migraine, migraine-related cochlear manifestations (such as sudden/progressive sensorineural hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness, otalgia) still face high rates of misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis. With the proposal of the "cochlear migraine" concept, the establishment of interdisciplinary precise classification is urgently needed....
No actionable practice change yet; cochlear migraine remains an emerging concept without established diagnostic criteria or treatment guidelines, but audiologists should be aware of migraine as a potential cause of unexplained hearing fluctuations.
Expanding the migraine spectrum to include cochlear symptoms could reshape how audiologists and otolaryngologists investigate sudden or fluctuating hearing loss without a clear cause.
- 01Cochlear migraine is proposed as an extension of the established vestibular migraine concept.
- 02Symptoms include sudden and progressive hearing changes potentially triggered by migraine activity.
- 03The article draws on existing vestibular migraine consensus as a conceptual framework.
- 04No formal diagnostic criteria for cochlear migraine have been established yet.
- 05Audiologists may need to consider migraine history when evaluating unexplained hearing fluctuation.
Cochlear migraine can manifest as sudden or progressive hearing changes.
opinionunclearCochlear migraine is a logical extension of vestibular migraine pathophysiology.
opinionpartially supported- PMID
- 42270307
- DOI
- 10.3760/cma.j.cn115330-20260407-00201.
- Journal
- Chinese Journal of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery
- Publication type
- review
- Evidence level
- 5
- Population
- Not applicable — conceptual/narrative review
- Intervention
- Conceptual framework extension from vestibular migraine to cochlear migraine
Primary outcomes
Characterization of cochlear migraine manifestations; Relationship between vestibular and cochlear migraine concepts