The Influence of Motoric Maneuvers on Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials (cVEMPs)

The cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) is a vestibular response that is produced by the saccule in response to intense, often low-frequency, short-duration auditory stimuli, and is typically recorded from a contracted sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle. Previous research has shown that the amplitude of the cVEMP is related to the amount of SCM electromyographic (EMG) activity.

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of various remote motoric maneuvers on the amplitude of the cVEMP, as well as whether they influence the level of SCM EMG activity.

The cVEMP was recorded from the left SCM muscle to left ear stimulation, in response to the SCM condition, as well as three different motoric maneuvers (jaw clench, eye closure, and the Jendrassik maneuver). EMG activity was also varied between 50, 75, and 100% of maximal EMG activity.

Data from 14 healthy subjects, with a mean age of 25.57 years (standard deviation = 5.93 years), was included in the present study.

Mean latency and amplitude of the cVEMP were compared across the four conditions and varying magnitudes of EMG contraction. SPSS 26 was used to statistically analyze the results.

cVEMP latency did not vary across condition. cVEMP amplitude decreased with decreasing EMG magnitude. SCM contraction with jaw clench produced the largest increase in cVEMP amplitude; however, this condition was not significantly different from the SCM condition alone. SCM contraction with the Jendrassik maneuver produced a cVEMP amplitude that was similar and not statistically different from SCM contraction alone, and the addition of the eye closure maneuver to SCM contraction resulted in the lowest cVEMP amplitude, which was found to be statistically different from the standard SCM condition at 100 and 75% EMG activity. The amplitude relationship across the conditions was not found to vary with changes in EMG activity; however, a significant increase in EMG amplitude was found during the 50% muscle contraction condition when subjects performed the Jendrassik maneuver in addition to the standard SCM contraction.

The addition of the eye closure maneuver to SCM contraction resulted in a significant decrease in cVEMP amplitude, while the addition of the Jendrassik maneuver resulted in a significant increase in EMG activity at the lowest level of SCM activation (i.e., 50%). Additional research is necessary to determine how motoric maneuvers influence the cVEMP amplitude, and whether the results are also dependent on how SCM contraction is being produced (e.g., while supine vs. sitting).