In the present paper, the electrically induced stapedial reflex (ESR) test has been applied to facial palsy patients in order to study its clinical utilization. There were two reasons why we selected facial palsy patients as the first objects of this study. Firstly, the acoustical stapedial reflex (ASR) test has been used as the diagnostic means, not only for the tonotopic diagnosis but for the prognostic one, and this view is supported by many articles. Secondly, as the ascending pathway of the ESR is partly composed of the somatosensory branches of the facial nerve, we thought that in some patients the reflex pattern would, be different between the ASR and the ESR.
We studied 15 patients and in these 15 patients, a different pattern between the ASR and the ESR existed in three patients. In one patient the threshold of the ESR was not different between the healthy and the affected side, but the ASR was diminished on the affected side. On the contrary, in two patients the ESR was absent or diminished on the affected side, while the ASR was not different between the healthy and the affected side. These two patients complained of hypesthesia of the posterior wall of the external auditory meatus. In 12 other patients the ASR and the ESR showed almost the same pattern. We therefore concluded that among the various methods of diagnostic means for facial palsy, both reflexes have almost the same utilization except in rare cases.