The effects of plateau time on vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials triggered by tone bursts

Vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) can be triggered by acoustic, vibratory or galvanic stimuli. However, each method has drawbacks for studying if the vestibulocollic reflex is intact in the patients tested. We used air-conducted VEMPs as a screening test to examine the integrity of the sacculocollic reflex. In a previous study, we defined the optimal rise/fall time of short tone bursts (STBs) to evoke VEMPs. In this paper, we studied the optimal plateau time of tone bursts to evoke VEMPs. Four different plateau times (1, 2, 5 and 10 ms) were used in a random order to test 26 normal ears. VEMP responses (p13/n23) triggered by the tone bursts were clearly observed in all ears. When the plateau time was increased in order from 1 to 10 ms, the latencies (p13, n23) and interval (p13-n23) were also increased in parallel, although significant differences were not observed between some plateau times. Considering the latencies and interval together for the four plateau times, the variances were smallest for the 2 ms plateau time, meaning that it caused the smallest interaural VEMP differences. The amplitude or relative amplitude in individual ears was lowest for the 1 ms plateau time, while it was comparable for the other three plateau times. In conclusion, we recommend that the ideal stimulation pattern for evoking STB VEMPs is as follows: frequency 500 Hz; stimulation repetition rate 5 Hz; rise, fall time 1 ms; and plateau time 2 ms. The waveform morphology of the VEMP responses observed with this stimulation pattern was simultaneously the most constant and marked.