Optimum Response of Air-conduction Induced Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential in Drivers

During driving, the plane of movement in drivers is horizontal. Hence, utricles and vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) pathway are over stimulated. The ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) is utilized to evaluate the function of utricle and VOR pathway.

This study aimed to assess the function of utricle and VOR using oVEMP among the drivers and compare it with non-professional drivers.

Comparative cross-sectional study.

A total of 30 non-professional drivers and 30 professional drivers between ages of 18 and 45 years were evaluated in this study. Drivers with minimum of 5 years driving experience and minimum 3 h of driving per day were included. The oVEMPs were recorded for all the participants using alternating polarity 500 Hz tone bursts stimuli.

To calculate mean and standard deviation for all the groups, descriptive statistics was used and for group comparisons Independent t-test, Analysis of Variance, and Mann-Whitney U test were used.

The oVEMP of professional drivers exhibited significant delay in peak latency of N1 and P1 than those of non-professional drivers. Significant delay in P1 latency and reduced peak amplitudes were observed in professional drivers with greater than 10 years of experience on comparison with drivers less than 10 years of experience.

Current study opens a new research in understanding the effect of over-stimulation of vestibular system in drivers. Driving for longer period may have effect on latency and amplitude parameters of oVEMP.