Comparison of short tone burst-evoked and click-evoked vestibular myogenic potentials in healthy adults

Vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMPs) is one of the clinical tools to evaluate vestibular function. The VEMPs can be recorded from sternocleidomastoid muscle by auditory stimulation with various sound stimuli and are thought to have saccular origin. The aim of this study was to compare the VEMP responses evoked by short (500 Hz) tone burst (STB) with those evoked by click stimuli in healthy young individuals.

Thirty healthy volunteers (15 males, 15 females) with ages of 18 to 30 years were enrolled in this study. Subjects were instructed to sit on a chair and rotate their head to the opposite side of the recording muscle. The VEMPs was recorded using 500 Hz STB and then click sound stimuli to each ear. The p13 and n23 latencies, p13-n23 peak-to-peak amplitude and VEMPs thresholds were obtained for further analysis.

The VEMP responses were present in all subjects for STB and ware not recorded in one subject for click. The latencies of p13 and n23 of STB-VEMP were significantly longer, and the p13-n23 amplitudes were significantly greater for STB-VEMP (p<0.05), and thresholds were higher for clicks (p < 0.05). No significant difference was obtained between both ears and genders. (p > 0.05).

The VEMP responses were significantly different between the stimuli of STB and click, and the norms of different stimuli should be established for clinical interpretations. According to these data, we recommend STB stimuli in comparison with clicks for clinical diagnosis.