Comparison of chirp versus click and tone pip stimulation for cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials

Abstract

The current study explored differences among cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP) that were evoked by CE-chirp and click and tone pip in healthy controls, and tried to explain the differences of cVEMP between the three of them. Thirty normal volunteers were used as subjects for CE-chirp and click and tone-pip (Blackman pip) stimuli. The latency of P1, N1, peak-to-peak P1-N1 amplitude, and cVEMP interaural difference were obtained and analyzed. The response rates of cVEMP were 93 % for click and 100 % for both Blackman pip and CE-chirp, respectively. The P1 and N1 latencies of cVEMP evoked by CE-chirp were the shortest, followed by click, with Blackman pip the longest (F = 6,686.852, P < 0.001). All indices of cVEMP evoked by the three stimuli showed no significant difference between the left and right ears or between genders. cVEMP responses were significantly different between the three stimuli. Compared with the currently used stimulus, CE-chirp can evoke cVEMP with shorter latencies and demonstrates increased speed and reliability.