# How the Mongolian gerbil may help speed recovery of a rare inner ear problem: Scientists develop testing model to enhance understanding of a condition known as 'third window syndrome' Rutgers University, 17 Feb 2023. How the Mongolian gerbil may help speed recovery of a rare inner ear problem: Scientists develop testing model to enhance understanding of a condition known as “third window syndrome”. ScienceDaily. [LINK](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230217152312.htm) >[!Abstract] > Scientists develop testing model to enhance understanding of a condition known as 'third window syndrome.' %% ## Highlights ### id479832890 > superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SSCD) [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gssg2jqtqwzthw2e3k14awpc) ### id479832895 > SSCD, a type of "third window syndrome," is caused by an abnormal third mobile window of the inner ear. Normally humans have two of these windows. When a third "window" is present -- at birth, after trauma or for reasons that remain unclear -- patients can suffer sound-induced dizziness, hearing internal sounds unusually well (one-third can hear their eyes move or blink), and chronic headaches. [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gssg2nsdqb51yzta0y042mg4) ### id479832900 > Patients can also suffer cognitive dysfunction -- such as impaired memory, poor concentration, spatial disorientation, slurred speech, out-of-body experiences and crippling anxiety. [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gssg2vaeyfwb8jdmt2zfy3f9) ### id479832949 > "If you could just blow my head off, I'd let you," one patient said she told her husband after receiving a diagnosis of SSCD. Vertigo, nausea, confusion and other symptoms of the rare inner ear problem had made everyday tasks -- from shopping to listening to music -- unbearable. "I cannot live like this," she said. [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gssg3fyh5947fz3ddqmep6f0) ### [[a Mongolian gerbil has an ear structure like humans]] > Wackym, Todd Mowery and other colleagues in the Department of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery are working to speed the recovery of patients like this one, and a Mongolian gerbil with an ear structure like humans could help eventually help researchers better understand the cognitive challenges and facilitate recovery. ^14jgj