Comparison between cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential response in normal children and adults

Objective: Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic potential (VEMP) is a non invasive test for vestibular function. It is a series of electrical waves that are generated by vestibular pathway in response to loud acoustic stimulation. It can be recorded from surface electrodes placed over muscles and according to the site of recording there are two types cervical VEMP and ocular VEMP. The primary goal of the present study is to compare cervical evoked myogenic potential (cVEMP) findings in normal hearing children and adults. Materials and Methods: This study included 60 subjects of normal hearing. They were selected from relatives; friends and relatives of patients attending Audiology Unit of Alzahraa University Hospital. 30 were children in the age range of 5-15 years and 30 were adults in the age range of 20-40 years. All subjects were submitted to cVEMP (air-conducted sound). Amplitude, latencies, asymmetry amplitude ratio and threshold were measured. Results: There was statistically significant difference in latencies and amplitudes and no statistically significant difference in asymmetry ratio of cVEMP responses between children and adults. There was no statistically significant difference in threshold between right and left ears in adult and children but there was statistically significant difference between the two groups as regard cVEMP threshold. Conclusion: cVEMPs responses in children have shorter latencies and lower thershold than adult responses, which should be considered in interpretation of cVEMP responses in children. Normative data for different age groups should be collected as cVEMPs responses, as age has a significant effect on them.