Comparison of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials elicited by click and short duration tone burst stimuli

Abstract

Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials are short latency electrical impulses that are produced in response to higher level acoustic stimuli. They are used clinically to diagnose sacculocollic pathway dysfunction. This study aimed to compare the vestibular evoked myogenic potential responses elicited by click stimuli and short duration tone burst stimuli, in normal hearing individuals. Seventeen subjects participated. In all subjects, we assessed vestibular evoked myogenic potentials elicited by click and short duration tone burst stimuli. The latency of the vestibular evoked myogenic potential responses (i.e. the p13 and n23 peaks) was longer for tone burst stimuli compared with click stimuli. The amplitude of the p13-n23 waveform was greater for tone burst stimuli than click stimuli. Thus, the click stimulus may be preferable for clinical assessment and identification of abnormalities as this stimulus has less variability, while a low frequency tone burst stimulus may be preferable when assessing the presence or absence of vestibular evoked myogenic potential responses.