Gait patterns in unstable older patients related with vestibular hypofunction. Preliminary results in assessment with time-frequency analysis.

Background: Gait instability and falls significantly impact life quality and morbi-mortality in elderly populations. Early diagnosis of gait disorders is one of the most effective approaches to minimize severe injuries.

Objective: To find a gait instability pattern in older adults through an image representation of data collected by a single sensor.

Motor and cognitive performances in pre-lingual cochlear implant adolescents, related with vestibular function and auditory input.

Background: Information about the role of auditory input and motor control is limited.

Objectives: Assessment the relationship between auditory and vestibular information with specific motor and cognitive functions.

Methods: Posturography in 17 Pre-lingual Cochlear Implant Adolescents, (PCIA) age 14.

Sensorimotor interaction in deaf children. Relationship between gait performance and hearing input during childhood assessed in pre-lingual cochlear implant users.

Conclusions: The results suggest that auditory input is not neutral in motor skills and the complex interaction between them is generated in the earlier stages of childhood development. Objective The assessment of gait performance in pre-lingual deaf children with cochlear implant (CI).

Methods: Gait velocity (GV), using a 10-meter test, was measured by means of three inertial sensors in 10 pre-lingual cochlear implant users (CIU) (10-16 years old) in three sensory conditions: (1) cochlear implant turned on with environmental noise (EN), (2) cochlear implant turned on with EN and with cognitive dual task (DT), and (3) CI turned off (CI-OFF).

Postural responses applied in a control model in cochlear implant users with pre-lingual hearing loss.

Conclusions The assessment of postural responses (PR) based in a feedback control system model shows selective gains in different bands of frequencies adaptable with child development. Objective PR characterization of pre-lingual cochlear implant users (CIU) in different sensory conditions. Methods Total energy consumption of the body's center of pressure signal (ECCOP) and its distribution in three bands of frequencies: band 1 (0-0.

Chronic balance disorders after acoustic neuroma surgery: assessment of gravitational vertical perception.

Conclusion: The head tilt response (HTR) test performed in a group of patients with chronic dizziness after acoustic neuroma surgery showed alterations in the gravitational vertical perception (GV).

Objective: The assessment of the accuracy in the GV through the HTR test in patients with long-term balance disorders after acoustic neuroma surgery.

Methods: The HTR was performed in two groups of patients that had undergone acoustic neuroma surgery: six uncompensated patients (UPs) who maintained vestibular symptoms 1 year after surgery and two compensated patients (CPs) without vestibular symptoms.

A multicenter observational study on the role of comorbidities in the recurrent episodes of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Objective: Primary objective of this study was to find a statistical link between the most worldwide comorbidities affecting the elderly population (hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthrosis, osteoporosis and depression) and recurrent episodes of BPPV. Secondary objective was defining possible "groups of risk" for people suffering recurrent positional vertigo related to the presence of a well documented comorbidity.

Methods: This was an observational, cross-sectional, multicenter, spontaneous, non-pharmacological study.

Effects of balance training using a virtual-reality system in older fallers.

Poor balance is considered a challenging risk factor for falls in older adults. Therefore, innovative interventions for balance improvement in this population are greatly needed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a new virtual-reality system (the Balance Rehabilitation Unit [BRU]) on balance, falls, and fear of falling in a population of community-dwelling older subjects with a known history of falls.

Postural response characterization in elderly patients with bilateral vestibular hypofunction.

Conclusions: The measurement of the energy consumption (EC) of the body's center of pressure (COP) to maintain the upright stance position was higher in elderly patients with bilateral vestibular hypofunction (BVH) compared with a control group and may be a valid parameter in the assessment of balance disorders.

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the energy consumption of the COP in elderly patients with BVH.

Methods: The COP was recorded on a force platform (FP) for eight elderly patients with BVH related to aging and eight normal control group subjects.

Visual gravitational vertical perception in peripheral vestibular hypofunction.

Conclusions: Rise time in the estimation of the gravitational vertical in the head tilt response (HTR) test is increased in patients with peripheral vestibular lesions and residual chronic dizziness.

Objective: Assessment of the perception of the gravitational vertical in patients with peripheral vestibular lesions through the HTR.

Methods: HTR was studied in 12 patients with peripheral vestibular lesion, 8 clinically with chronic dizziness and 4 without it; 23 normal subjects were studied as control group.

Balance in Parkinson's disease patients changing the visual input.

Unlabelled: The description of the postural responses in Parkinson's disease patients when visual information changes from a stable to a moving visual field analyzing the impact on balance in these patients.

Methods (clinical): Limits of Stability, Body center of pressure and balance functional reserve were measured by means of the force platform in 24 Parkinson's patients in stages 1 and 2 of the Boher classification and 19 volunteers as a control group. Both groups were stimulated with 1-Static visual field and 2-horizontal optokinetic stimulation using a virtual reality system.

Influence of DFNB1 status on expressive language in deaf children with cochlear implants.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the language growth of children with connexin-related deafness (DFNB1) who received cochlear implants versus the language growth of implanted children with non-DFNB1 deafness.

Study Design: A prospective longitudinal observational study and analysis.

Setting: Two tertiary referral centers.

Clinical characteristics of positional vertigo after mild head trauma.

Conclusion: This study showed that a population with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo related to mild head trauma (BPPVAT) was younger and more frequently presented with bilateral canalithiasis than another population with idiopathic etiology (IBPPV). In both groups, females presented a higher risk of BPPV.

Objective: To compare the clinical features of a population with BPPVAT and another with IBBPV.

Dynamic modeling and experimental results for a head tilt response.

The estimation of the vertical in humans is important in everyday life although the mechanisms involved are not completely understood yet. This paper presents two sets of experiments with normal subjects, using the same virtual reality setup, aiming to help in this understanding. First, a steady state experiment is presented, which is used to determine the gravitational vertical precision while the second, a dynamical transient response experiment, is used to find dynamic models of each subject response.

Head tilt response: A complementary test to the Subjective Visual Vertical.

This paper studies the phenomenon of the perceived vertical by means of a novel dynamic experiment. This task is inspired in the Subjective Visual Vertical test and can be regarded as complementary in terms of how the information involved varies (visual, otolithic and neck proprioception). The experiment consists in presenting a white stripe in a pair of virtual reality goggles and adjusting the roll angle of the head until the stripe is aligned with the gravitational vertical.

Auditory input modulates sleep: an intra-cochlear-implanted human model.

To properly demonstrate the effect of auditory input on sleep of intra-cochlear-implanted patients, the following approach was developed. Four implanted deaf patients were recorded during four nights: two nights with the implant OFF, with no auditory input, and two nights with the implant ON, that is, with normal auditory input, being only the common night sounds present, without any additional auditory stimuli delivered. The sleep patterns of another five deaf people were used as controls, exhibiting normal sleep organization.

Postural control and sensory perception in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Conclusions: This study suggests that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), even in the early stages, have decreased body limits of stability (LOS) and changes in the visual input impair their postural control.

Objective: To assess the LOS and the postural responses after changes in visual input in a group of PD patients in stage 1 of the Hoehn and Yahr classification.

Subjects And Methods: Twenty PD patients in stage 1 and a group of 24 normal subjects as control were assessed in two tests: (1) the LOS and (2) measurement of the body center of pressure area (COP) 10 s before and after sudden change in visual flow velocity.

Postural strategies in normal subjects and in patients with instability due to central nervous system diseases after sudden changes in the visual flow.

Conclusion: The results suggest that after a sudden change in the visual input, postural adaptation is impaired in patients with instability and central nervous system disorders (CNSD).

Objective: The aim of this study was the assessment of postural adaptation, as a transient phenomenon, when sudden changes in visual perception occur in normal subjects and in patients with instability due to different CNSD.

Subjects And Methods: Horizontal optokinetic stimulation (40 s and suddenly stopped) was performed in 16 patients with CNSD, and also in 22 normal subjects.

Performance after cochlear implantation in DFNB1 patients.

Objective: To evaluate the speech perception and language development with cochlear implants (CI) of DFNB1 children in comparison with non-DFNB1 deaf children.

Study Design: Retrospective case series.

Setting: Academic tertiary center.

Postural adaptation in elderly patients with instability and risk of falling after balance training using a virtual-reality system.

Our aim in this study was to assess postural control adaptation quantitatively in unsteady elderly patients at risk of falls in open spaces and given balance training with a virtual-reality system reproducing environmental stimulation. Using a balance rehabilitation unit based on a virtual-reality system that changes sensory information (visual, vestibular, and somatosensory), we treated 26 elderly, unsteady patients who were prone to falling (age range, 73-82 years) and who were enrolled in a customized vestibular rehabilitation program. We assessed postural responses by posturography before and after 6 weeks in the vestibular rehabilitation program under two conditions: (1) standing, eyes open, static visual field, and (2) standing, eyes open, dynamic visual field through virtual-reality goggles, generating horizontal optokinetic stimulation (70 degrees per second angular velocity).