Effectiveness of Head-Mounted Vibrotactile Stimulation in Subjects With Bilateral Vestibular Loss

Abstract

Head-mounted vibrotactile stimulation produced significant improvement in postural stability in subjects with BVL undergoing SOT 5 and 6 testing with no effect on subjective visual vertical during DSVV testing.

Short-term retention effect of rehabilitation using head position-based electrotactile feedback to the tongue: Influence of vestibular loss and old-age

“…We did not find publications confirming that supplying BVA patients with any kind of biofeedback could allow them to remain standing for 20 s EC without assistance on tilting platforms. In contrast, a possibility to prolong the time-to-fall was previously reported in BVA patients tested with EC on a sway-referenced platform (Equitest, Neurocom) while supplying them with vibrotactile biofeedback [21]. Consistent with this data, the present study showed a significant prolongation of time-to-fall in the BVA subgroup.…”

“…In the present study, analysis of the therapy effect in posturographic scores revealed similarities with those observed in patients wearing auditory [2,3,18,19,24,25], vibrotactile [6,21,25,26] or multi-modal [20,22] biofeedback devices providing a real-time postural signal. Our patients, however, were tested without feedback, 4 h after the last use of the BrainPort balance device.…”

Salient and placebo vibrotactile feedback are equally effective in reducing sway in bilateral vestibular loss patients

“…Electrotactile [5,[17][18][19] and vibrotactile [20][21][22][23][24] feedback systems also seem to be suitable for vestibular substitution. Electrotactile feedback through the tongue is an elegant method to improve posture and balance, as it is a fully head-based system and because a learning-effect of several hours after removal of the prothesis has been shown [17].…”

Conveying Looming with a Localized Tactile Cue

“…More recently, while testing sites for a tactile prosthesis to aid balance, Asseman, Bronstein, and Gresty (2005) report that stimulation of the forehead with 200-Hz vibration led to faster reaction times than when the same stimulus was presented to the sternum. Similarly, in a clinical study, Goebel et al (2009) successfully used a head-mounted array of four EAI C2 tactors (one placed on the middle of the forehead) to provide balance cues for patients with bilateral vestibular loss. Finally, Mortimer et al (2011) successfully presented spatiotemporal patterns across the forehead (using EAI C3 tactors) to assess perceptual changes resulting from sports-related concussion.…”

“…[EAI], of Castleberry, FL) have been used in several clinical studies (e.g., Goebel et al, 2009;Mortimer et al, 2011), as well as basic tactile research (e.g., Cholewiak, Schwab, and Beede, 2003;Cholewiak, Brill, and Schwab, 2004). The stimulus was mechanical -no electricity passed from the tactor to the subject.…”