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Noisy Galvanic Stimulation Improves Roll-Tilt Vestibular Perception in Healthy Subjects

It has recently been demonstrated that noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) delivered as imperceptible white noise can improve balance control via the induction of stochastic resonance. However, it is unclear whether these balance improvements are accompanied by simultaneous enhancement to v...

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Autores principales: Keywan, Aram, Wuehr, Max, Pradhan, Cauchy, Jahn, Klaus
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5837962/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29545766
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2018.00083
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author Keywan, Aram
Wuehr, Max
Pradhan, Cauchy
Jahn, Klaus
author_facet Keywan, Aram
Wuehr, Max
Pradhan, Cauchy
Jahn, Klaus
author_sort Keywan, Aram
collection PubMed
description It has recently been demonstrated that noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) delivered as imperceptible white noise can improve balance control via the induction of stochastic resonance. However, it is unclear whether these balance improvements are accompanied by simultaneous enhancement to vestibular motion perception. In this study, 15 healthy subjects performed 8 quiet-stance tasks on foam with eyes closed at 8 different nGVS amplitudes ranging from 0 mA (baseline) to 0.5 mA. The nGVS amplitude that improved balance performance most compared to baseline was assigned as the optimal nGVS amplitude. Optimal nGVS amplitudes could be determined for 13 out of 15 subjects, who were included in the subsequent experimental procedures. The effect of nGVS delivered at the determined optimal intensity on vestibular perceptual thresholds was examined using direction-recognition tasks on a motion platform, testing roll rotations at 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 Hz, both with active and sham nGVS stimulations. nGVS significantly reduced direction-recognition thresholds compared to the sham condition at 0.5 and 1.0 Hz, while no significant effect of nGVS was found at 0.2 Hz. Interestingly, no correlation was found between nGVS-induced improvements in balance control and vestibular motion perception at 0.5 and 1 Hz, which may suggest different mechanisms by which nGVS affects both modalities. For the first time, we show that nGVS can enhance roll vestibular motion perception. The outcomes of this study are likely to be relevant for the potential therapeutic use of nGVS in patients with balance problems.
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spelling pubmed-58379622018-03-15 Noisy Galvanic Stimulation Improves Roll-Tilt Vestibular Perception in Healthy Subjects Keywan, Aram Wuehr, Max Pradhan, Cauchy Jahn, Klaus Front Neurol Neuroscience It has recently been demonstrated that noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) delivered as imperceptible white noise can improve balance control via the induction of stochastic resonance. However, it is unclear whether these balance improvements are accompanied by simultaneous enhancement to vestibular motion perception. In this study, 15 healthy subjects performed 8 quiet-stance tasks on foam with eyes closed at 8 different nGVS amplitudes ranging from 0 mA (baseline) to 0.5 mA. The nGVS amplitude that improved balance performance most compared to baseline was assigned as the optimal nGVS amplitude. Optimal nGVS amplitudes could be determined for 13 out of 15 subjects, who were included in the subsequent experimental procedures. The effect of nGVS delivered at the determined optimal intensity on vestibular perceptual thresholds was examined using direction-recognition tasks on a motion platform, testing roll rotations at 0.2, 0.5, and 1.0 Hz, both with active and sham nGVS stimulations. nGVS significantly reduced direction-recognition thresholds compared to the sham condition at 0.5 and 1.0 Hz, while no significant effect of nGVS was found at 0.2 Hz. Interestingly, no correlation was found between nGVS-induced improvements in balance control and vestibular motion perception at 0.5 and 1 Hz, which may suggest different mechanisms by which nGVS affects both modalities. For the first time, we show that nGVS can enhance roll vestibular motion perception. The outcomes of this study are likely to be relevant for the potential therapeutic use of nGVS in patients with balance problems. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-03-01 /pmc/articles/PMC5837962/ /pubmed/29545766 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2018.00083 Text en Copyright © 2018 Keywan, Wuehr, Pradhan and Jahn. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Keywan, Aram
Wuehr, Max
Pradhan, Cauchy
Jahn, Klaus
Noisy Galvanic Stimulation Improves Roll-Tilt Vestibular Perception in Healthy Subjects
title Noisy Galvanic Stimulation Improves Roll-Tilt Vestibular Perception in Healthy Subjects
title_full Noisy Galvanic Stimulation Improves Roll-Tilt Vestibular Perception in Healthy Subjects
title_fullStr Noisy Galvanic Stimulation Improves Roll-Tilt Vestibular Perception in Healthy Subjects
title_full_unstemmed Noisy Galvanic Stimulation Improves Roll-Tilt Vestibular Perception in Healthy Subjects
title_short Noisy Galvanic Stimulation Improves Roll-Tilt Vestibular Perception in Healthy Subjects
title_sort noisy galvanic stimulation improves roll-tilt vestibular perception in healthy subjects
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5837962/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29545766
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2018.00083
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