Postural compensation in children with congenital or early acquired bilateral vestibular loss

The relative roles of different receptor systems in compensating for vestibular loss were studied in 18 children (12 to 16 years of age) with congenital or early acquired bilateral vestibular loss (BVL) and impaired hearing, and compared to that in 33 normal children (9 to 16 years of age). Postural stability was studied with posturography evaluating the velocity of anterior-posterior body sway. With closed eyes the increase of sway velocity did not differ between the groups, either with or without simultaneous proprioceptive disturbances when the subjects were standing on a bare surface. Body sway velocities were found to increase more in subjects with a BVL than in normal children when subjects were standing on foam rubber. When proprioceptive cues were disturbed, body sway velocities increased in both groups, but significantly more in children with BVL when subjects stood on foam rubber. This occurred both with and without open eyes.