title: The Effects of Aging on Clinical Vestibular Evaluations.
abstract: Balance disorders are common issues for aging populations due to the effects of normal aging on peripheral vestibular structures. These changes affect the results of vestibular function evaluations and make the interpretation of these results more difficult. The objective of this article is to review the current state of knowledge of clinically relevant vestibular measures. We will first focus on otolith function assessment methods cervical-VEMP (cVEMP) and ocular-VEMP (oVEMP), then the caloric and video-head impulse test (vHIT) methods for semicircular canals assessment. cVEMP and oVEMP are useful methods, though research on the effects of age for some parameters are still inconclusive. vHIT results are largely independent of age as compared to caloric stimulation and should therefore be preferred for the evaluation of the semicircular canals function.
authors.affiliation: École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Université de Montréal , Montréal, QC , Canada ; Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation du Montréal métropolitain (CRIR), Institut Raymond-Dewar (IRD) , Montréal, QC , Canada.
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maheu
authors.affiliation: École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Université de Montréal , Montréal, QC , Canada.
authors.forename: Marie-Soleil
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Houde
authors.affiliation: École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Université de Montréal , Montréal, QC , Canada ; Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation du Montréal métropolitain (CRIR), Institut Raymond-Dewar (IRD) , Montréal, QC , Canada.
authors.forename: Simon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Landry
authors.affiliation: École d'orthophonie et d'audiologie, Université de Montréal , Montréal, QC , Canada ; Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation du Montréal métropolitain (CRIR), Institut Raymond-Dewar (IRD) , Montréal, QC , Canada.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Champoux
keywords: VEMP; aging; caloric vestibular stimulation; vHIT; vestibular function tests