Test-retest reliability of suppression head impulse paradigm (SHIMP) in healthy individuals

Abstract

Objective The Video Head Impulse Test (vHIT) is an efficient tool to assess VOR. vHIT has been widely used to detect the presence of peripheral vestibular impairment. vHIT uses two paradigms: HIMP (Head Impulse Paradigm) and SHIMP (Suppression Head Impulse Paradigm). The current study aimed to determine the test-retest reliability of the Suppression Head Impulse Paradigm (SHIMP) in normal individuals. Method Twenty-eight healthy young individuals aged 18–30 years with normal hearing sensitivity and normal middle ear function participated in the study. The participants also had no signs and symptoms or history of vestibular problems. The SHIMP paradigm was performed twice (sessions I and II) with an inter-session interval of twodays. Results Paired sample t-test showed no significant difference in VOR gain and asymmetry values between sessions I and II. Cronbach’s alpha also showed a good test-retest reliability for VOR gain and asymmetry values. Kappa Coefficient showed good reliability for the presence of anticompensatory saccades. Conclusion VOR Gain functions and the presence of anti-compensatory saccades are highly reliable parameters when tested with SHIMP. Thus, any deviance in the gain parameters indicates a vestibular impairment rather than variability in the SHIMP test paradigm.