Test-retest reliability and age-related characteristics of the ocular and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential tests.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the test-retest reliability and age-related trends of the cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP and oVEMP, respectively) responses to air-conducted sound and bone-conducted vibration stimulation.


METHODS
Prospective study.


METHODS
Tertiary referral center.


METHODS
Fifty-three healthy adults with no hearing or vestibular deficits.


METHODS
All subjects underwent cVEMP and oVEMP testing in response to sounds (0.1-ms clicks and 500-Hz tone bursts) and vibration (midline forehead taps at the hairline, Fz, with a reflex hammer and a Brüel & Kjaer Mini-Shaker Type 4810). Twelve subjects underwent an additional testing session that was conducted at a mean of 10 weeks after the first one.


METHODS
Test-retest reliability for VEMP response parameters (latency, peak-to-peak amplitude, and asymmetry ratio) were assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).


RESULTS
: oVEMP amplitudes had excellent test-retest reliability (ICC > 0.75) for all 4 stimuli; cVEMP amplitudes had excellent reliability for hammer taps and fair-to-good reliability for other stimuli. oVEMP asymmetry ratios had excellent reliability for clicks and fair-to-good reliability (ICC = 0.4-0.75) for other stimuli; cVEMP asymmetry ratios had fair-to-good reliability for clicks and hammer taps. Older subjects (>50 years old) were found to have significantly decreased cVEMP amplitudes in response to clicks, tones, and taps with a Mini-Shaker and significantly decreased oVEMP amplitudes in response to clicks, tones, and taps with a reflex hammer. No age-related changes were found for latencies or asymmetry ratios.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, oVEMP response parameters demonstrated better test-retest reliability than cVEMP response parameters, but oVEMPs and cVEMPs had similar age-related changes.
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287-0910, USA.
Kimanh D
KD
Nguyen
Miriam S
MS
Welgampola
John P
JP
Carey
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001844:Bone Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009799:Ocular Physiological Phenomena; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014722:Vestibule, Labyrinth / Q000502:physiology*; D014732:Vibration; D055815:Young Adult