Vestibular Implants Tested in Human Subjects

Plain-language summary

The goal of this study is to improve the vestibular implant's ability to reduce the vestibular-dependent perceptual, postural, and visual symptoms that affect patients with severe peripheral vestibular damage. The long-term research plan is focused on exploring the three questions which must be answered to assess the clinical utility of a vestibular implant (VI) in vestibulopathic patients - i) how can information transfer from the VI sensors to the brain be optimized; ii) how does the three-dimensional angular velocity information provided by the VI interact in the brain with other sensorimotor (vision, otolith, efferent) signals; and iii) how effectively does the VI alleviate the behavioral deficits and subjective symptoms experienced by patients with severe vestibular damage. The current study will be used to focus on two key subsets of these questions. Over one year, the investigators will study approximately 5 patients who have severe bilateral vestibular damage and functioning VI's, which will focus on aim 1: how the angular velocity information sensed by the VI can be optimally transferred to the brain; and aim 2: how effectively the VI improves the clinical status of vestibulopathic patients when they receive acute and sub-acute (3 days) motion-modulated stimulation. In sum, the investigators aim to improve the efficacy of the VI in human subjects by developing new knowledge about how the brain processes motion cues provided by the VI and correlating this information with behavioral outcomes.

Who can participate

What they're measuring

Trial details