title: Vestibular perception and the vestibulo-ocular reflex in young and older adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Quantification of the perceptual thresholds to vestibular stimuli may offer valuable complementary information to that provided by measures of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Perceptual thresholds could be particularly important in evaluating some subjects, such as the elderly, who might have a greater potential of central as well as peripheral vestibular dysfunction. The authors hypothesized that perceptual detection and discrimination thresholds would worsen with aging, and that there would be a poor relation between thresholds and traditional measures of the angular VOR represented by gain and phase on rotational chair testing.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors compared the detection and discrimination thresholds of 19 younger and 16 older adults in response to earth-vertical, 0.5 Hz rotations. Perceptual results of the older subjects were then compared with the gain and phase of their VOR in response to earth-vertical rotations over the frequency range from 0.025 to 0.5 Hz.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Detection thresholds were found to be 0.69 ± 0.29 degree/sec (mean ± standard deviation) for the younger participants and 0.81 ± 0.42 degree/sec for older participants. Discrimination thresholds in younger and older adults were 4.83 ± 1.80 degree/sec and 4.33 ± 1.57 degree/sec, respectively. There was no difference in either measure between age groups. Perceptual thresholds were independent of the gain and phase of the VOR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results indicate that there is no inevitable loss of vestibular perception with aging. Elevated thresholds among the elderly are therefore suggestive of pathology rather than normal consequences of aging. Furthermore, perceptual thresholds offer additional insight, beyond that supplied by the VOR alone, into vestibular function.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA; and 2Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Nai-Yuan Nicholas
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Meghan M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Hiss
authors.forename: Mark C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.forename: Osarenoma U
authors.initials: OU
authors.lastname: Olomu
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: MacNeilage
authors.forename: Rosalie M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Uchanski
authors.forename: Timothy E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Hullar
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004056:Differential Threshold; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012027:Reflex, Vestibulo-Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D012399:Rotation; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology*; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult