Scholars@Duke
Kristal Mills Riska

Kristal Mills Riska

Associate Professor of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences
Communication Sciences
Duke South Yellow Zone 4000, DUMC Box 3805, Durham, NC 27710
40 Medicine Circle, DUMC Box 3805, Durham, NC 27710

Scholarly Works - Journal articles

Evaluating speech dysfunction in patients with congenital cytomegalovirus - A multicenter retrospective study.

Journal article Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol · April 2026 OBJECTIVE: Despite the known impact of congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) on hearing, implications on speech have been understudied. In the absence of hearing loss, 2% of cCMV patients may still develop speech and language impairment. This study will descri ... Full text Link to item Cite

Test-Retest Reliability of the Triangle Completion Test.

Journal article J Am Acad Audiol · March 2026 BACKGROUND: The triangle completion test (TCT) is a clinical measure of spatial navigation that has been associated with vestibular function. There are limited data on its statistical reliability. PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess the test-retest reliabi ... Full text Link to item Cite

A description of self-selected treatments and self-reported improvement following treatment among post-9/11 veterans experiencing disruptive dizziness following a comprehensive traumatic brain injury evaluation.

Journal article Brain Inj · 2026 BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore what treatments were sought by post-9/11 Veterans with and without a formal diagnosis related to their long-term dizziness following completion of a Comprehensive Traumatic Brain Injury Evaluation (CTBIE). METHODS: T ... Full text Link to item Cite

An Exploratory Study of the Impact of Hearing Handicap on Listening Fatigue During Health Care Encounters Among Older Adults.

Journal article Am J Audiol · December 12, 2025 PURPOSE: This exploratory study examined if hearing handicap in older adults affected listening-related fatigue during health care interactions and explored whether different face mask types worn during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic infl ... Full text Link to item Cite

Examining Sociodemographic Differences in the Management of Vestibular Neuritis and Labyrinthitis by Ear, Nose, and Throat Providers and Vestibular Rehabilitation Outcomes.

Journal article Am J Audiol · December 12, 2025 PURPOSE: This study aims to determine the most common management strategies for vestibular neuritis and labyrinthitis (VNL) by ear, nose, and throat (ENT) providers and identify sociodemographic variations in vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) referra ... Full text Link to item Cite

Factors That Impact the Long-Term Outcome of Postconcussive Dizziness Among Post-9/11 Veterans.

Journal article Am J Audiol · November 2023 PURPOSE: The primary aim of this study was to examine the factors associated with long-term outcomes of postconcussive disruptive dizziness in Veterans of the post-9/11 wars. METHOD: For this observational cohort study, the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventor ... Full text Link to item Cite

Guideline Adherence to Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Treatment and Management in Primary Care.

Journal article Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg · October 2023 OBJECTIVE: To determine adherence to the 2017 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) guidelines for the management and treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) in primary care (PC) and compare whether key recomme ... Full text Link to item Cite

Prognosis of Acute Low-Tone Hearing Loss Without Vertigo: A Scoping Review.

Journal article Laryngoscope · October 2023 OBJECTIVE: Despite its relatively high prevalence, our understanding of the natural clinical course of acute low-tone hearing loss (ALHL) without vertigo remains incomplete. The purpose of this study is to summarize the findings of studies that evaluated r ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association Between Hearing Handicap and Life-Space Mobility in a Patient Population.

Journal article Am J Audiol · June 2023 PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between self-reported hearing handicap and life-space mobility utilizing the Life-Space Questionnaire (LSQ). Life-space mobility reflects how an individual moves through their daily physica ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis for Surgery Versus Stereotactic Radiosurgery for Jugular Paragangliomas.

Journal article Otol Neurotol · March 1, 2023 OBJECTIVE: Comprehensively analyze tumor control and treatment complications for jugular paraganglioma patients undergoing surgery versus stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). DATABASES REVIEWED: EMBASE, Medline, and Scopus. METHODS: The databases were searched ... Full text Link to item Cite

MRI Screening in Vestibular Schwannoma: A Deep Learning-based Analysis of Clinical and Audiometric Data.

Journal article Otol Neurotol Open · March 2023 OBJECTIVE: To find a more objective method of assessing which patients should be screened for a vestibular schwannoma (VS) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using a deep-learning algorithm to assess clinical and audiometric data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ... Full text Link to item Cite

Disruptive Dizziness Among Post-9/11 Veterans With Deployment-Related Traumatic Brain Injury.

Journal article J Head Trauma Rehabil · July 2022 OBJECTIVE: To identify disruption due to dizziness symptoms following deployment-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) and factors associated with receiving diagnoses for these symptoms. SETTING: Administrative medical record data from the Department of Vet ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of Hearing Aid Use on Falls and Falls-Related Injury: Results From the Health and Retirement Study.

Journal article Ear Hear · 2022 OBJECTIVES: Falls are considered a significant public health issue and falls risk increases with age. There are many age-related physiologic changes that occur that increase postural instability and the risk for falls (i.e., age-related sensory declines in ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

A Systematic Review on the Association Between Vestibular Dysfunction and Balance Performance in Children With Hearing Loss.

Journal article Ear Hear · 2022 OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to understand the functional impact of vestibular dysfunction on balance control in children with hearing loss. The vestibular system is an important contributor to maintaining balance. In adults, vestibular dysf ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Association Between Hearing Loss and Surgical Complications in Older Adults.

Journal article Ear Hear · 2022 OBJECTIVES: In this study, we sought to evaluate whether older patients with hearing loss who underwent surgery were at greater risk of postsurgical complications, increased inpatient length-of-stay (LOS), and hospital readmission. DESIGN: This was a retro ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluating the Association Between Hearing Loss and Falls in Adults With Vestibular Dysfunction or Nonvestibular Dizziness.

Journal article Ear Hear · 2022 OBJECTIVES: Although emerging evidence suggests that hearing loss (HL) is an independent risk factor for falls, it is unclear how HL may impact falls risk in adults with vestibular dysfunction and nonvestibular dizziness. The purpose of this study was to c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Vestibular and balance function in veterans with chronic dizziness associated with mild traumatic brain injury and blast exposure.

Journal article Front Neurol · 2022 The purpose of this study was to examine vestibular and balance function in individuals with chronic dizziness associated with mTBI/blast. A prospective case-control study design was used to examine ocular motor, vestibular function, and postural stability ... Full text Link to item Cite

Response to Powell et al., "Do Hearing Aids Prevent Falls? Commentary on Study From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey".

Journal article Am J Audiol · December 9, 2021 This letter serves to respond to Powell et al.'s (2021) letter to the editor regarding our recent publication, "Preliminary Evidence on the Impact of Hearing Aid Use on Falls Risk in Individuals With Self-Reported Hearing Loss." In our letter, we respond t ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Comparison of Falls and Dizziness Handicap by Vestibular Diagnosis.

Journal article Am J Audiol · December 9, 2021 PURPOSE: There is a paucity of data that directly compares the falls rate and dizziness handicap of different vestibular diagnoses. The purpose of this study is to compare the falls rate and dizziness handicap of common vestibular diagnoses encountered amo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Test-Retest Reliability of the Listening Self-Efficacy Questionnaire.

Journal article Am J Audiol · December 9, 2021 PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability and the minimum detectable change (MDC) scores of the Listening Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (LSEQ). METHOD: A total of 77 older adults who were experienced hearing aid users we ... Full text Link to item Cite

Is silence golden… In this context, not so much.

Journal article J Am Geriatr Soc · November 2021 Full text Link to item Cite

Vestibular Dysfunction and Gross Motor Milestone Acquisition in Children With Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review.

Journal article Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg · October 2021 OBJECTIVE: To describe the impact of vestibular dysfunction on gross motor development in children with hearing loss. DATA SOURCES: MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase (Elsevier), Web of Science (Clarivate), and the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Liter ... Full text Link to item Cite

Preliminary Evidence on the Impact of Hearing Aid Use on Falls Risk in Individuals With Self-Reported Hearing Loss.

Journal article Am J Audiol · June 14, 2021 Purpose Falls are considered a significant public health issue, and hearing loss has been shown to be an independent risk factor for falls. The primary objective of this study was to determine if hearing aid use modified (reduced) the association. We hypot ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Acute Effects of Time-Varying Caloric Vestibular Stimulation as Assessed With fMRI.

Journal article Front Syst Neurosci · 2021 We describe preliminary results from the application of time-varying caloric vestibular stimulation (tvCVS) to volunteers during a continuous blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) acquisition, recording baseline, during-tvCVS and post-t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Vestibular function after cochlear implantation: A test battery and case-by-case approach.

Journal article Laryngoscope Investig Otolaryngol · June 2020 OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of cochlear implantation on the functional integrity of the horizontal semicircular canal using multiple methodologies, and to discuss and highlight the limitations of using isolated vestibula ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Relationship Between Corrective Saccades and Measures of Physical Function in Unilateral and Bilateral Vestibular Loss.

Journal article Ear Hear · May 21, 2020 OBJECTIVES: Following the loss of vestibular function, some patients functionally improve and are minimally bothered by their loss of peripheral function while others remain more symptomatic and are unable to return to their activities of daily living. To ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Symptoms, Audiometric and Vestibular Laboratory Findings, and Imaging in a Concurrent Superior Canal Dehiscence Syndrome and Vestibular Schwannoma: A Case Report.

Journal article J Am Acad Audiol · January 2020 BACKGROUND: Dizziness is a common complaint that can arise from multiple systems in the body. Objective vestibular tests are used to understand the underlying function of the vestibular system and whether or not it may be contributing to the dizziness symp ... Full text Link to item Cite

Association of Traumatic Brain Injury With Vestibular Dysfunction and Dizziness in Post-9/11 Veterans.

Journal article J Head Trauma Rehabil · 2020 OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence and impact of vestibular dysfunction and nonspecific dizziness diagnoses and explore their associations with traumatic brain injury (TBI) severity, mechanism, and postconcussive comorbidities among post-9/11 veterans. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Relationship Between Corrective Saccades and Measures of Physical Function in Unilateral and Bilateral Vestibular Loss.

Journal article Ear Hear · 2020 OBJECTIVES: Following the loss of vestibular function, some patients functionally improve and are minimally bothered by their loss of peripheral function while others remain more symptomatic and are unable to return to their activities of daily living. To ... Full text Link to item Cite

Dizziness, Vertigo, and Mental Health Comorbidity in Gulf War Veterans.

Journal article J Am Acad Audiol · October 2019 BACKGROUND: Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic condition involving symptoms across multiple body systems. Previous research has implicated the vestibular system as a potential underlying factor in the symptoms experienced by veterans with GWI, due in part ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo Triage Clinic.

Journal article Am J Audiol · December 12, 2017 PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of triaging patients with motion-provoked dizziness into a benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) clinic. METHOD: A retrospective chart review was performed of veterans who were test ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Characteristics and Treatment Outcomes of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo in a Cohort of Veterans.

Journal article Am J Audiol · December 12, 2017 BACKGROUND: The Mountain Home Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center has been diagnosing and treating veterans with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) for almost 2 decades. The clinic protocol includes a 2-week follow-up visit to determine the treat ... Full text Link to item Cite

Vestibular consequences of mild traumatic brain injury and blast exposure: a review.

Journal article Brain Inj · 2017 The purpose of this article is to review relevant literature on the effect of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and blast injury on the vestibular system. Dizziness and imbalance are common sequelae associated with mTBI, and in some individuals, these sym ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reliability and Normative Data for the Dynamic Visual Acuity Test for Vestibular Screening.

Journal article Otol Neurotol · June 2016 HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of this study was to determine reliability of computerized dynamic visual acuity (DVA) testing and to determine reference values for younger and older adults. BACKGROUND: A primary function of the vestibular system is to maintain ga ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Vestibular Assessment and Rehabilitation: Ten-Year Survey Trends of Audiologists' Opinions and Practice.

Journal article J Am Acad Audiol · February 2016 BACKGROUND: The past decade has yielded changes in the education and training of audiologists and technological advancements that have become widely available for clinical balance function testing. It is unclear if recent advancements in vestibular instrum ... Full text Link to item Cite

Video Head Impulse Testing (vHIT) and the Assessment of Horizontal Semicircular Canal Function.

Journal article J Am Acad Audiol · May 2015 BACKGROUND: Vestibular function (specifically, horizontal semicircular canal function) can be assessed across a broad frequency range using several different techniques. The head impulse test is a qualitative test of horizontal semicircular canal function ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Interdisciplinary Approach to Dizziness: Roles of Audiology and Physical Therapy

Journal article Perspectives on Public Health Issues Related to Hearing and Balance · November 2013 Dizziness is one of the most common reasons patients seek medical care, and because there are many causes of dizziness, management of these patients requires an interdisciplinary approach. Peripheral vestibular dysfunction is the most common cause ... Full text Cite

Late-Onset Unilateral Auditory Neuropathy/Dysynchrony: A Case Study

Journal article Journal of the American Academy of Audiology · March 1, 2009 Background: Auditory neuropathy/dysynchrony (AN/AD) typically develops early in life and is bilateral in nature. Purpose: Herein, we describe an unusual finding of late-onset unilateral AN/AD based on r ... Full text Cite