title: Ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials in response to air-conducted 500 Hz short tones: Effect of stimulation procedure (monaural or binaural), age and gender.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The ocular vestibular myogenic potentials (oVEMP) can be elicited by monaural air-conducted sound stimulation, and are usually recorded from the contralateral eye. In clinical setting a binaural stimulation would save time and require less effort from the subjects.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the differences between monaural and binaural stimulation, and the possible effect of age and gender on oVEMP parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  Air-conducted oVEMP were recorded by binaural and by monaural stimulation in a group of 54 normal subjects, aged from 12 to 83 years, and in 50 vestibular patients. From each side, we measured the latency of the N1 component, and the peak-to-peak N1-P1 amplitude. For both parameters we also computed the asymmetry ratio.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In normal subjects binaural stimulation produced slightly larger responses than monaural stimulation; detectability, latency and amplitude ratio were the same for the two techniques. We found no differences related to gender, and the age-induced amplitude decline was likely to be negligible.oVEMP recorded not in an acute phase of their disorder, proved to be abnormal in about 20% of the patients, and the normal or abnormal findings obtained either with monaural or with binaural stimulation were always concordant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The oVEMP obtained after binaural and monaural stimulation are very similar, and they are largely independent from age and gender.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Sistema Nervoso e del Comportamento, Università di Pavia, Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Versino
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Sanità Pubblica, Medicina Sperimentale e Forense, Università di Pavia, Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Colnaghi
authors.affiliation: Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ranzani
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Sistema Nervoso e del Comportamento, Università di Pavia, Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alloni
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Sistema Nervoso e del Comportamento, Università di Pavia, Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlotta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bolis
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Sistema Nervoso e del Comportamento, Università di Pavia, Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sacco
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Sistema Nervoso e del Comportamento, Università di Pavia, Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Arrigo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moglia
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Sistema Nervoso e del Comportamento, Università di Pavia, Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, IRCCS, Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Callieco
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014717:Vertigo / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D058585:Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Vestibular evoked potential; aging; gender; stimulation modality