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Vestibulo-ocular Responses To Bone Conducted Vibration
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$282,772.00
Summary
This project is about an entirely new way of clinically evaluating balance function of the inner ear by using bone conducted vibration (BCV). We will make measures of the BCV stimulus in order to specify the stimulus at the receptors, and relate this stimulus to the eye-movement responses it causes. Measuring the exact stimulus and the response will give us a much better understanding of why this stimulus works, allowing us to optimize the clinical tests of balance function.
The Neural Basis Of Clinical Vestibular Testing By Bone Conducted Sound
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$260,986.00
Summary
Dysfunction of the balance system of the inner ear (the vestibular system) causes recurring dizzy attacks and persistent unsteadiness which can disrupt the most productive years of some people's lives. Balance-related falls account for more than half of accidental deaths in the elderly (Marchetti and Whitney 2005). Despite this, most doctors find dizziness difficult to diagnose and almost impossible to treat in part because of the subjective nature of the patients' reports. Fast, simple, safe, o ....Dysfunction of the balance system of the inner ear (the vestibular system) causes recurring dizzy attacks and persistent unsteadiness which can disrupt the most productive years of some people's lives. Balance-related falls account for more than half of accidental deaths in the elderly (Marchetti and Whitney 2005). Despite this, most doctors find dizziness difficult to diagnose and almost impossible to treat in part because of the subjective nature of the patients' reports. Fast, simple, safe, objective clinical tests are needed to diagnose these patients' problems and to identify which of the 10 vestibular sensory regions is affected. A new way of testing balance function is to use sound because sound can activate the vestibular system as well as the auditory system. We are using that fact to develop a whole new way of clinical testing of vestibular function and this largely Australian development has been very rapidly accepted by the international vestibular community. In a recent NHMRC project (253620) we discovered 1) that bone conducted vibration specifically activates some sensory nerves from one of the gravity sensing regions of the balance system (the otoliths) and 2) that air-conducted (AC) sound and bone-conducted vibration (BCV) appear to probe the function of different vestibular sensory regions 3) most importantly that BCV causes an eye movement response in alert guinea pigs (as it does in alert human subjects). This seems to be the objective response for testing otolith function which we are seeking. In this project we plan to extend these results by recording single vestibular nerve cells in guinea pigs, testing hypotheses about their responses to various types of sound and then injecting the neurons with stains which will allow us to confirm definitely the location of the receptors activated by the sound stimuli. The outcome will be the physiological basis of a new clinical test of balance using bone conducted vibration.Read moreRead less
Sound And Vibration-Evoked Vestibular Potentials In The Differential Diagnosis Of Common Vestibulopathy.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$261,016.00
Summary
Vertigo is a debilitating symptom that is a significant burden to the community. This project utilizes a simple test of balance function called the Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (VEMP), to differentiate between the four most common balance disorders causing vertigo. Using sound and vibration to stimulate different parts of the balance organs, we will extract useful discriminators for each disorder and develop a neural network that predicts the likelihood of each condition.