What Are the Symptoms of Ménière’s Disease?

If you’re wondering, “how do I know if I have Ménière’s disease?,” the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and the Mayo Clinic list four main symptoms.

  • Recurring episodes of vertigo: This is experiencing a spinning sensation that starts and stops spontaneously. Episodes of vertigo occur without warning and can last several minutes to several hours. Some may experience drop attacks, where the vertigo is so severe and sudden that the patient falls to the floor.

  • Hearing loss: Hearing loss in Ménière's disease usually fluctuates but can become permanent.

  • Tinnitus: Hearing a ringing, buzzing, roaring, whistling, or hissing sound.

  • Ear fullness: This is feeling pressure or fullness in the ear, usually in one ear.

What Are the Stages of Ménière’s Disease?

In the 1980s and ’90s there were attempts to classify Ménière’s disease into stages that take into account the fluctuating nature of the symptoms. However, as Yi Ge, M.D., of MED-EL shares, these stages “should be viewed as a general description of possible pattern of progression, not a fixed timeline that everyone follows the same way.”

More recently, researchers and clinicians have pointed to evidence of subtypes among Ménière's disease patients, now able to be objectively measured.

At the 2025 Ménière’s Disease Symposium (cohosted by HHF), Amy Juliano, M.D., shared these findings, thanks to advanced imaging of the inner ear:

• MRI imaging techniques have evolved to visualize endolymphatic hydrops in Ménière’s disease patients by using contrast agents that permeate into perilymph but not endolymph, allowing radiologists to objectively identify enlarged cochlear ducts, saccules, and utricles as visible signs of the condition.

• Research has identified two distinct endotypes of Ménière’s disease: hypoplastic (where the endolymphatic sac never developed properly) and degenerative (where the endolymphatic sac developed but then degenerated), which can be distinguished on imaging by examining the vestibular aqueduct angle or the thickness of retrolabyrinthine bone.

• Modern radiological reports for Ménière’s disease patients now include assessment of endolymphatic structure sizes, perilymph enhancement (which correlates with sensorineural hearing loss), and anatomical features that help subtype the disease, providing valuable prognostic information for treatment planning.

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