As a method for objective registration of nystagmic responses electronystagmography gives a lot of information about the state of the vestibulo-oculomotor system. Concerning accuracy, reproducibilityand objectivity the commonly used methods for diagnostic interpretation of this material are not quite satisfying. By means of a data acquistion system it is possible to utilize the advantages of the techniques of data processing. In common with fundamental considerations regarding to the choice of the parameters to evaluate the essential parts of the computer-program (calibrations, elimination of interferences, analysis of the fast and slow nystagmic components) are described and examples for the results are shown.
For special questions the validity of models has to be verified in each case. One possibility for controlling the model of the vestibulo-oculomotor system (completed with a neuronal integrator) which is used for automatic quantitative nystagmus analysis is the duration of the postacceleratory nystagmus. Theoretically for this parameter an upper limit exists which is independent of stimulus strength and influenced only by the system parameters and stimulus duration. Several experimental studies are compared with the theoretical calculations. As a result, the conception of the model is confirmed; however, nystagmus duration appears to be a valuable characteristic only under certain experimental conditions. For this reason, nystagmus duration is not considered as a parameter of the quantitative analysis.
Automatic quantitative nystagmus analysis by means of a digital computer primarily gives a lot of data. Analysis then means reducing this amount of numerical data to a few relevant results. Because the diagnostic importance is not known yet for all available nystagmus parameters, this implies the risk of losing essential informations. Therefore, limitations of the number of parameters as well as of the duration of the investigated intervals by the method of analysis have to be avoided. This then allows studying the diagnostic value of new parameters (e.g. of the fast components) or the time course of reaction intensity. From this point of view a method of quantitative nystagmus analysis is described.
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