Meniere's disease is a clinical disorder of the inner ear defined by periodic vertigo, fluctuating hearing loss, tinnitus, and aural fullness. Cochlear Hydrops is similar to Meniere's but without vertigo. It is appropriate to mention Cochlear Hydrops because it may precede Meniere's disease.

Clinical care focuses on reducing the severity and frequency of vertigo because it is the most crippling symptom of Meniere's disease. Vertigo, tinnitus, and aural fullness are subjective; therefore many studies include hearing measurement as a secondary endpoint. Currently, there are no reliable metrics to describe hearing loss and fluctuations. The lack of information on hearing changes restricts its use as the primary endpoint in clinical trials. The purpose of this paper is to quantify both the probability of fluctuations (logistic regression) and the expected hearing losses over a period of time (longitudinal data analysis).