Department of Otolaryngology, University of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 629, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2012 Jun;13(3):381-401. doi: 10.1007/s10162-012-0318-3. Epub 2012 Mar 9.
Directional asymmetries in vestibular reflexes have aided the diagnosis of vestibular lesions; however, potential asymmetries in vestibular perception have not been well defined. This investigation sought to measure potential asymmetries in human vestibular perception. Vestibular perception thresholds were measured in 24 healthy human subjects between the ages of 21 and 68 years. Stimuli consisted of a single cycle of sinusoidal acceleration in a single direction lasting 1 or 2 s (1 or 0.5 Hz), delivered in sway (left-right), surge (forward-backward), heave (up-down), or yaw rotation. Subject identified self-motion directions were analyzed using a forced choice technique, which permitted thresholds to be independently determined for each direction. Non-motion stimuli were presented to measure possible response bias. A significant directional asymmetry in the dynamic response occurred in 27% of conditions tested within subjects, and in at least one type of motion in 92% of subjects. Directional asymmetries were usually consistent when retested in the same subject but did not occur consistently in one direction across the population with the exception of heave at 0.5 Hz. Responses during null stimuli presentation suggested that asymmetries were not due to biased guessing. Multiple models were applied and compared to determine if sensitivities were direction specific. Using Akaike information criterion, it was found that the model with direction specific sensitivities better described the data in 86% of runs when compared with a model that used the same sensitivity for both directions. Mean thresholds for yaw were 1.3±0.9°/s at 0.5 Hz and 0.9±0.7°/s at 1 Hz and were independent of age. Thresholds for surge and sway were 1.7±0.8 cm/s at 0.5 Hz and 0.7±0.3 cm/s at 1.0 Hz for subjects <50 and were significantly higher in subjects >50 years old. Heave thresholds were higher and were independent of age.
前庭反射的方向性不对称有助于前庭病变的诊断；然而，前庭感知的潜在不对称尚未得到很好的定义。本研究旨在测量人类前庭感知的潜在不对称。在 24 名年龄在 21 至 68 岁之间的健康人体受试者中测量了前庭感知阈值。刺激由持续 1 或 2 秒（1 或 0.5 Hz）的单一方向正弦加速度组成，以摇摆（左右）、涌动（前后）、起伏（上下）或偏航旋转的形式传递。使用强制选择技术分析了受试者识别的自身运动方向，该技术允许独立确定每个方向的阈值。非运动刺激用于测量可能的反应偏差。在 27%的测试条件下，在受试者内部出现了显著的动态响应方向性不对称，而在 92%的受试者中至少有一种运动类型出现了方向性不对称。当在同一受试者中重新测试时，方向性不对称通常是一致的，但在人群中，除了在 0.5 Hz 时的起伏外，并不一致地出现在一个方向上。在呈现零刺激时的反应表明，不对称不是由于有偏差的猜测造成的。应用了多种模型并进行了比较，以确定灵敏度是否是方向特定的。使用赤池信息量准则发现，当与使用两个方向相同灵敏度的模型相比时，86%的情况下方向特异性灵敏度的模型更好地描述了数据。在 0.5 Hz 时，偏航的平均阈值为 1.3±0.9°/s，在 1 Hz 时为 0.9±0.7°/s，与年龄无关。在 0.5 Hz 时，涌动和摇摆的阈值分别为 1.7±0.8 cm/s 和 0.7±0.3 cm/s，年龄小于 50 岁的受试者，而年龄大于 50 岁的受试者的阈值明显更高。起伏的阈值更高，与年龄无关。
