A pilot investigation into the use of vestibulometric measures in predicting neural pathways in relation to vibrotactile stimulation.

Research in the use of vibrotactile devices has focused predominantly on the vibrotactile receptor system within the skin. There is little research relating to the neural pathways and the central processing of information transmitted to the cortex as a result of vibrotactile stimulation. This pilot study that considers the use of vestibulometric measures in predicting the neural pathways. Three measures of vestibular function were undertaken: saccadic eye movement, smooth pursuit and optokinetic nystagmus. Ten normally hearing adults, with no previous history of vestibular dysfunction, were tested using an ICS computer based vestibular testing system. All subjects were tested in four situations: baseline, wearing vibrotactile device with stimulation, vibrotactile device without stimulation and repeated baseline. Five subjects demonstrated a significant change in vestibular measures, four related to measure of optokinetic nystagmus and two in relation to smooth pursuit. There is a demonstrated difference in vestibular function which supports the need for further investigation.