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Test-retest Reliability of Ocular Vestibular Myogenic Potential in Healthy Pilots

Journal Authors: 
DOI: 
10.7727/wimj.2015.202

ABSTRACT

Background: Vestibular function is essential to pilots. But for now there are little method to evaluate otolith function in pilots. Quite recently the ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential (oVEMP) test has been introduced to evaluate the utricular and the superior vestibular nerve function. The test-retest reliability of oVEMP by air conducted sound is crucial and indispensable for its application in pilots. Hence, the purpose of the present study is to assess the reliability of oVEMP by air conducted sound in pilots.

Methods: Twenty Chinese Air Force active-duty fighter pilots (10 females and 10 males with a mean age of 32 years) were recruited as study participants. Each subject underwent oVEMP test with an interval of one week. Acoustic stimuli as 97 dB nHL short tone bursts (STB) [500 Hz, rise/fall time = 1 ms, plateau time = 2 ms] with rarefaction polarity were delivered through the insert earphones to evoked the oVEMP. The responses to 100 stimuli were averaged and the latencies of the nI and pI peak, peak to peak amplitude were determined, as well as the asymmetry ratio between the peak to peak amplitudes of oVEMP. Agreement between the parameters of oVEMP on the two different test days with an interval of one week was demonstrated by intra class correlation tests.

Results: Among the parameters of oVEMP test, reliability was excellent for n10 latency, peak-to-peak amplitude and AR for peak-to-peak amplitude whereas reliability was fair-to-good for pI latency.

Conclusions: Good to excellent test-retest reliability has been established for overall parameters of oVEMP in 20 healthy pilots, with the latency of n10 more reliable than the latency of p15. It implies that oVEMP test is reliable in the vestibular evaluation of pilots. 

Accepted: 
10 Aug, 2015
PDF Attachment: 
e-Published: 18 Dec, 2015

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