Cervical and ocular vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials induced by bone conduction in the pediatric group: Test–Retest reliability and validity

Abstract

Background

It is better to perform the VEMP test with bone conduction stimulus in the pediatric group, where conduction-type pathologies can be frequently observed.

Aim

This study aimed to establish normative values of the Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potential (VEMP) test in pediatric individuals using bone-conduction stimuli at different frequencies (250 Hz, 500 Hz, 750 Hz) and to evaluate its test–retest reliability.

Materials and methods

This study employed a descriptive design and included 37 healthy individuals aged 8–18 years. Cervical VEMP and ocular VEMP tests were conducted using a B-71 bone vibrator that delivered tone-burst stimuli at frequencies of 250, 500, and 750 Hz at 60 dB nHL. The first test was administered by one clinician, and the second test was conducted by another clinician one week later. Test–retest analysis evaluated wave latencies, interlatencies, amplitudes, and amplitude asymmetry values. Since the data showed normal distribution, parametric tests were used; within-group comparisons were analyzed with paired t-tests, between-group comparisons with independent t-tests, and ICC values were calculated to assess reliability.

Results

In cervical VEMP using bone-conduction stimuli, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) values for the assessment parameters ranged from 0.60 to 0.87 at 250 Hz, from 0.54 to 0.74 at 500 Hz, and from 0.50 to 0.78 at 750 Hz. In ocular VEMP using bone-conduction stimuli, the ICC values ranged from 0.60 to 0.84 at 250 Hz, from 0.68 to 0.84 at 500 Hz, and from 0.65 to 0.79 at 750 Hz.

Conclusion

Cervical and ocular VEMP tests using bone-conduction stimuli are reliable methods for evaluating the functional integrity of the vestibular system in pediatric populations.