Saccular sensitivity function measured by vestibular evoked myogenic potential.

CONCLUSIONS: Vestibular myogenic potential responses were present when evoked by tone burst stimuli of 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz; however, they were more effective for low-frequency stimuli.

OBJECTIVES: Few studies refer to specific frequency sensitivities of the saccular afferents. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to analyze p13 and n23 latency and amplitude parameters of vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) captured with tone bursts at frequencies of 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz.

METHODS: VEMP was captured in 156 ears (78 subjects), recorded in the sternocleidomastoid muscle, averaging 200 stimuli, stimulus rate of 5 Hz, duration 10 ms (rise, 4 ms; plateau, 2 ms; fall, 4 ms), at intensity of 95 dB nHL. The recordings were performed in 50 ms windows.

RESULTS: We found lower p13 latencies in women compared with men, except for the frequency of 250 Hz. We found higher mean absolute latency values for p13 and n13 and lower p13-n13 amplitude and p13-n13 inter-peak values for a frequency of 2000 Hz. Higher amplitudes were observed at frequencies of 250 and 500 Hz. When frequencies of 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz were compared using ANOVA, we found statistically significant differences for all the VEMP parameters (p ≤ 0.005).