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Effects of acoustic stimulus duration on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials: A neurophysiological and
A Ciardo1, N El Assawy2, S Mauro2,3
1Service of Otorynolaryngology, S. Giuseppe Hospital, IRCCS-Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Piancavallo, Oggebbio (VB), Italy.
Objective:
To analyze and model the effects of acoustic stimulus duration on cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs).
Design:
Subjects with normal hearing and no vestibular or cervical disorders were tested using 1 kHz tone bursts (TBs) of different durations to evoke cVEMPs from the ipsilateral sternocleidomastoid muscle. VEMP modeling was performed in Labview.
Results:
The increase in TB duration initially resulted in a non-linear increase in cVEMP amplitude, followed by more complex cVEMP modifications that were mainly related to the appearance of a new wave (nX) that interfered with n23. With long TBs there were two distinct negative peaks with an identical threshold, suggesting a common vestibular nature. A two-level inhibition model qualitatively accounted for the two distinct negative peaks. However, good fitting of the cVEMP waveform required a multi-level model that included an excitatory phase after the inhibitory period.
Conclusions:
The two negative components (n23 and nX) observed in cVEMPs elicited by long TBs may result from the involvement of two different pathways with different dynamics or a single pathway with quick adaptation in the activity along the vestibulo-collic arc. Excitatory activity following the period of inhibition may represent rebound activity at the motor unit level.
