Air-Conducted Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential Testing in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults: Thresholds, Frequency Tuning, and Effects of Sound Exposure.
Amanda I Rodriguez, Megan L A Thomas, Kristen L Janky
PMID 29870520WHAT IT FOUND
500 Hz and 750 Hz VEMP gave the same responses in 10 children, 10 adolescents, and 10 young adults; thresholds were lower in children than young adults, and testing did not change hearing, hair-cell function, or symptoms.
Key findings
01500 Hz and 750 Hz tone bursts produced no differences in cVEMP and oVEMP response rates, latencies, peak-to-peak amplitudes, or thresholds across children, adolescents, and adults.
02Children had lower cVEMP and oVEMP thresholds than adults, adolescents did not differ from children or adults in threshold comparisons, and thresholds increased with equivalent ear canal volume.
03After VEMP threshold testing, audiometric thresholds did not shift more than 5 dB HL, DPOAE amplitudes stayed within the pre-VEMP test-retest range, and no subjects reported otologic symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample was small, with 10 children, 10 adolescents, and 10 young adults. All participants had normal hearing and normal tympanometry, so thresholds may not apply to children with hearing loss, abnormal middle ear function, or vestibular loss. The children were 4 to 9 years old, so younger children were not represented. Hearing and DPOAE outcomes were checked only within 10 minutes after VEMP testing, not later. Threshold search methods differed by age: adults used a descending method, while children and adolescents started at 100 dB SPL and used ascending steps of 5 dB. Some cVEMP stimuli were rejected when EMG activity was outside 50 to 300 μV, but they were still delivered and added to total sound exposure. The study did not test children with sensorineural hearing loss or vestibular loss, and the authors note future work is needed in children with vestibular loss.
Declared interests
The study was supported by NIH awards, and the authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these thresholds as reference values for children with hearing loss or vestibular loss. The study tested only participants with normal hearing and normal tympanometry, and it did not include children with vestibular dysfunction.