Estimating Vestibular Perceptual Thresholds using a Six-Degree-of-Freedom Motion Platform

Vestibular perceptual thresholds refer to the motion intensity required to enable a participant to detect or discriminate a motion based on vestibular input. Using passive motion profiles provided by six degree-of-motion platforms, vestibular perceptual thresholds can be estimated for any kind of motion and thereby target each of the sub-components of the vestibular end-organ. Assessments of vestibular thresholds are clinically relevant as they complement diagnostic tools such as caloric irrigation, the head impulse test (HIT), or vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs), which only provide information on sub-components of the vestibular system, but none of them allow for assessing all components. There are several methods with different advantages and disadvantages for estimating vestibular perceptual thresholds. In this article, we present a protocol using an adaptive staircase algorithm and sinusoidal motion profiles for an efficient estimation procedure. Adaptive staircase algorithms consider the response history to determine the peak velocity of the next stimuli and are the most commonly used algorithms in the vestibular domain. We further discuss the impact of motion frequency on vestibular perceptual thresholds.