Inertial Measurement Unit-Based Romberg Test for Assessing Adults With Vestibular Hypofunction

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Neuroscience
• Rehabilitation Science

Background:

• Vestibular hypofunction (VH) impairs balance and movement control.
• Traditional balance tests may not fully capture subtle kinematic changes.
• Wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) offer objective movement quantification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of IMUs for quantifying movement during Romberg tests in adults with VH.
• To investigate kinematic differences in movement between VH and healthy controls (HCs).
• To assess the potential of IMU-derived metrics for screening VH and informing vestibular rehabilitation.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 31 VH participants (unilateral [UVH] and bilateral [BVH]) and 31 HCs.
• Participants underwent IMU-based instrumented Romberg and tandem Romberg tests.
• Primary outcomes included kinematic body metrics (acceleration, sway velocity) along multiple axes.

Main Results:

• VH participants showed significantly higher head and pelvic movement acceleration during eyes-closed Romberg tests compared to HCs.
• Individuals with BVH exhibited increased head and pelvic movement acceleration (ML axis) in both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions.
• No significant kinematic differences were observed between UVH participants and HCs.

Conclusions:

• Instrumented Romberg tests with IMUs effectively differentiate kinematic movement patterns between VH and healthy adults.
• Kinematic body metrics show promise for screening bilateral vestibular hypofunction (BVH).
• These objective measures can inform personalized vestibular rehabilitation strategies.