Neurological aspects of vibroacoustic disease

Mood and behavioral abnormalities are the most common early findings related to vibroacoustic disease (VAD). Other signs and symptoms have been observed in VAD patients. Brain MRI discloses small multifocal lesions in about 50% of subjects with more than 10 yr of occupational exposure to large pressure amplitude (> or = 90 dB SPL) and low frequency (< or = 500 Hz) (LPALF) noise. However, to date, there have been no studies globally integrating all the neurological, imaging and neurophysiological data of VAD patients. This is the main goal of this study.

The 60 male Caucasians diagnosed with VAD were neurologically evaluated in extreme detail in order to systematically identify the most common and significant neurological disturbances in VAD.

This population demonstrates cognitive changes (identified through psychological and neurophysiological studies (ERP P300)), vertigo and auditory changes, visual impairment, epilepsy, and cerebrovascular diseases. Neurological examination reveals pathological signs and reflexes, most commonly the palmo-mental reflex.

A vascular pattern underlying the multifocal hyperintensities in T2 MR imaging, with predominant involvement of the small arteries of the white matter, is probably the visible organic substratum of the neurological picture. However, other pathophyisological mechanisms are involved in epileptic symptomatology.