Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials on hearing-imparied and visually imparied individuals

The visual, somatosensorial and vestibular systems provide balance through the the integration of stimuli of these systems. The pathologies affecting these systems result in balance disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the vestibular system in hearing- and visually-impaired individuals using the vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) test. Twenty-one healthy volunteer with normal hearing and vision (control group), 21 hearing-impaired individual (hearing-impaired group), and 21 visually-impaired individual (visually-impaired group) were included in the study. All participants were 18-50 years of age. All individuals were subject to pure tone audiometry, speech audiometry, andelectro acoustic immitancemetry tests prior to the VEMP test. The presence or absence of p13-n23 wave, its latency, and the interpeak amplitude values were evaluated in the VEMP test. There was a significant difference in the p13 wave latency at 95 and 105 dB HL between the hearing-impaired group compared to the visually-impaired group and the control group (p<0.05), whereas there was no significant difference in the p13 wave latency at 95 and 105 dB HL between the visually-impaired group and the control group (p>0.05). There was no significant difference in the n23 wave latency in the hearing- and visually-impaired group compared to the control group (p<0.05). The findings of this study revealed a reduction in the sacculus functions in the hearing-impaired individuals, and implied a possible subclinical involvement. We believe that the VEMP test could be a good alternative to evaluate the vestibular system in visually-impaired individuals. Keywords: VEMP, hearing-impaired, visually-impaired