Lubetzky Anat V, Cosetti Maura, Harel Daphna, Scigliano Katherine, Sherrod Marlee, Wang Zhu, Roginska Agnieszka, Kelly Jennifer
Department of Physical Therapy, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA; Ear Institute, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
Gait Posture. 2025 Mar;117:129-135. doi: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2024.12.013. Epub 2024 Dec 14.
To investigate how adults with unilateral vestibular hypofunction and healthy controls incorporate visual and auditory cues for postural control in an abstract visual environment.
Participants stood on foam wearing the HTC Vive, observing an immersive 3-wall display of 'stars' that were either static or dynamic (moving front to back at 32 mm, 0.2 Hz) with no sound, static white noise, or moving white noise played via headphones. Each 60-second condition repeated twice. We recorded the center-of-pressure variance, and its power spectral density [PSD, cm] components in low [0, 0.25 Hz], mid [0.25, 0.5 Hz] and high [0.5, 1 Hz] frequencies in the anterior-posterior direction. We used linear mixed-effects models to compares healthy controls (n = 41, mean age 52 years, range 22-78) to participants with unilateral peripheral vestibular hypofunction (n = 28, 61.5, 27-82), adjusting for age.
Variance and low PSD: we observed a significant vestibular by visual load interaction in the presence of sounds, such that the vestibular group had significantly higher sway than controls only on dynamic visuals in the presence of sounds. Mid PSD: the vestibular group had significantly higher sway than controls regardless of condition. High PSD: the vestibular group had significantly higher sway than controls, except for the presence of sounds on static visuals.
Patients with vestibular hypofunction used sounds to reduce sway in a static abstract environment and were somewhat destabilized by it in a dynamic environment. This suggests that sounds, when played from headphones, may function as an auditory anchor under certain level of challenge and specific tasks regardless of whether it's stationary or moving. Our results support that increased sway in middle frequencies reflects vestibular dysfunction.
研究单侧前庭功能减退的成年人与健康对照者如何在抽象视觉环境中整合视觉和听觉线索以进行姿势控制。
参与者穿着HTC Vive头戴设备站在泡沫垫上，观察一个沉浸式的三壁“星星”显示屏，这些“星星”要么是静态的，要么是动态的（以32毫米、0.2赫兹的频率从前向后移动），同时通过耳机播放无声音、静态白噪声或移动白噪声。每个60秒的条件重复两次。我们记录了压力中心方差及其在前后方向上低[0, 0.25赫兹]、中[0.25, 0.5赫兹]和高[0.5, 1赫兹]频率的功率谱密度[PSD，厘米]成分。我们使用线性混合效应模型将健康对照者（n = 41，平均年龄52岁，范围22 - 78岁）与单侧外周前庭功能减退的参与者（n = 28，61.5岁，27 - 82岁）进行比较，并对年龄进行了调整。
方差和低PSD：在有声音的情况下，我们观察到前庭功能与视觉负荷之间存在显著的交互作用，即前庭功能减退组仅在有声音的动态视觉环境下的摇摆幅度显著高于对照组。中PSD：无论何种条件，前庭功能减退组的摇摆幅度均显著高于对照组。高PSD：除了在静态视觉环境中有声音的情况外，前庭功能减退组的摇摆幅度显著高于对照组。
前庭功能减退的患者在静态抽象环境中利用声音来减少摇摆，但在动态环境中会因声音而略显不稳定。这表明，当通过耳机播放声音时，无论声音是静止还是移动的，在一定程度的挑战和特定任务下，声音可能起到听觉锚的作用。我们的结果支持中频率摇摆增加反映前庭功能障碍这一观点。
