Investigating the role of vestibular function in motion sickness and visually induced motion sickness by multiple vestibular function tests.

Background: Motion sickness (MS) and visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) are vestibular system-related conditions affecting balance.

Objectives: To investigate the role of vestibular function and susceptibility in MS/VIMS in healthy college students and to evaluate the effectiveness of various vestibular function tests in detecting these disorders.

Materials and methods: Five hundred young adults, grouped by motion sickness susceptibility questionnaire-short (MSSQ-S) and visually induced motion sickness susceptibility questionnaire-short (VIMSSQ-S) questionnaires, were further analyzed via continuous linear regression to validate the grouping strategy. The participants completed a caloric test (CT), video head impulse test (vHIT), dynamic visual acuity (DVA), subjective visual vertical/horizontal (SVV/SVH), and sensory organisation tests (SOT). Analysis of the relationship between the results of the five tests and the MS/VIMS.

Results: CT revealed significant differences in right cold slow-phase velocity (RC SPV) and left cold slow-phase velocity (LC SPV) among groups (p < 0.001), with strong correlations between these values and MS/VIMS susceptibility (p < 0.05). Among 52 subjects with abnormal CT results, significant differences were found in vHIT, DVA, and SOT (p < 0.001), while SVV/SVH showed a significant difference only in MSSQ-S scores (p = 0.034).

Conclusions and significance: This study comprehensively assessed vestibular function in MS and VIMS susceptible individuals, confirming increased sensitivity and highlighting the need for targeted evaluation strategies.