Efficacy of Incremental Vestibular Ocular Reflex Adaptation Training on Gait, Balance, and Quality of Life in Individuals With Chronic Peripheral Vestibular Hypofunction: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Only 24 participants were analysed, and the trial was powered to detect changes in VOR gain, so the gait and balance results may be underpowered. The crossover design and the balance and gait exercises given after crossover make it difficult to separate the effect of StableEyes or traditional gaze stability training from the added exercises. The 3-week training period may have been too short to detect a difference between the gaze stability approaches. Recruitment was affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and by public reticence after research paused. Exclusion of people with unstable conditions, neuropathy, visual impairments, and multiple comorbidities limits how far the results apply to a busy clinic. The initial randomization was skewed because some participants were randomized before vestibular hypofunction was confirmed at the study visit, and the protocol was amended. StableEyes training was performed while sitting, while traditional gaze stability training was performed while standing, which may have given the traditional training a balance challenge advantage. Researchers did not verify with video-oculography how well participants maintained gaze on the target during training.

The United States Department of Defense funded the trial. M.C.S. and A.A.M. developed the StableEyes technology, which is patented and owned by Johns Hopkins University.

Do not conclude that StableEyes training is better than traditional gaze stability exercises. The direct comparison did not show differences in gait, balance, or symptom changes, and all participants also received balance and gait exercises after crossover.