A novel assessment measure for vestibular functioning
Faculty Advisor Name
Dr. Erin Piker
Department
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Description
Dizziness is a common problem that affects a significant proportion of population. Among the patients who seek medical care for dizziness, almost 30% of them receive an unspecific diagnosis. Despite the tremendous advancement that has occurred in the field of hearing and vestibular (ear related balance functioning) sciences in the last 30 years, our ability to diagnose and treat vestibular impairment is limited. Limitations in our abilities to assess vestibular malfunctioning arises due to our limited understanding of the vestibular physiology.
Our study is an attempt to improve our understanding of vestibular physiology. We aimed to explore an aspect of vestibular functioning that cannot be examined using conventional assessment techniques. Our study utilized a novel stimulation (amplitude modulated tones) and recording paradigm: amplitude-modulated-cVEMP (AMcVEMP) to characterize mechanisms of the vestibular functioning (phase synchrony of vestibular nerve and non-linearity of vestibular system) for a range of stimulation (vibratory movements: mimicking day to day activities). AMcVEMP assess the integrity of sacculo-collic (connection between vestibular organs and muscles of the body that helps us maintain balance) pathways necessary for maintaining optimal balance. We included 49 human participants from three age groups (young: 16, middle age: 17 and older adults: 16 participants) to understand effects of age on the phase synchrony and non-linearity of the sacculo-collic pathways (vestibular system) using the novel amplitude modulated stimulation and recording paradigm.
Our data showed evidence of phase synchrony and non-linearity in the human vestibular system for all age groups for a range of stimuli (vibratory movements). Our study also showed alteration in phase synchrony and non-linearity of vestibular system as an effect of aging. The range of vibratory movements for which the responses (phase synchrony and non-linearity) could be elicited, reduced as an effect of aging. This alludes that elderly individuals might not be able to detect some of the activities of day today movements which puts them at risk for falls. Utilizing AMcVEMP paradigm to screen older adults at risk for falls might help us provide a customized life-style modifications for older adults that could mitigate the risk for falls to some extent. Overall, the outcomes from the study have advanced our understanding of age-related changes in the vestibular system and has opened areas for exploration that will eventually lead to better standard of care for older adults. Further expansion of these techniques to clinical population will enhance our understanding of vestibular pathophysiology and lead to improvements in the areas of vestibular diagnostics.
A novel assessment measure for vestibular functioning
Dizziness is a common problem that affects a significant proportion of population. Among the patients who seek medical care for dizziness, almost 30% of them receive an unspecific diagnosis. Despite the tremendous advancement that has occurred in the field of hearing and vestibular (ear related balance functioning) sciences in the last 30 years, our ability to diagnose and treat vestibular impairment is limited. Limitations in our abilities to assess vestibular malfunctioning arises due to our limited understanding of the vestibular physiology.
Our study is an attempt to improve our understanding of vestibular physiology. We aimed to explore an aspect of vestibular functioning that cannot be examined using conventional assessment techniques. Our study utilized a novel stimulation (amplitude modulated tones) and recording paradigm: amplitude-modulated-cVEMP (AMcVEMP) to characterize mechanisms of the vestibular functioning (phase synchrony of vestibular nerve and non-linearity of vestibular system) for a range of stimulation (vibratory movements: mimicking day to day activities). AMcVEMP assess the integrity of sacculo-collic (connection between vestibular organs and muscles of the body that helps us maintain balance) pathways necessary for maintaining optimal balance. We included 49 human participants from three age groups (young: 16, middle age: 17 and older adults: 16 participants) to understand effects of age on the phase synchrony and non-linearity of the sacculo-collic pathways (vestibular system) using the novel amplitude modulated stimulation and recording paradigm.
Our data showed evidence of phase synchrony and non-linearity in the human vestibular system for all age groups for a range of stimuli (vibratory movements). Our study also showed alteration in phase synchrony and non-linearity of vestibular system as an effect of aging. The range of vibratory movements for which the responses (phase synchrony and non-linearity) could be elicited, reduced as an effect of aging. This alludes that elderly individuals might not be able to detect some of the activities of day today movements which puts them at risk for falls. Utilizing AMcVEMP paradigm to screen older adults at risk for falls might help us provide a customized life-style modifications for older adults that could mitigate the risk for falls to some extent. Overall, the outcomes from the study have advanced our understanding of age-related changes in the vestibular system and has opened areas for exploration that will eventually lead to better standard of care for older adults. Further expansion of these techniques to clinical population will enhance our understanding of vestibular pathophysiology and lead to improvements in the areas of vestibular diagnostics.
