Vestibular Prostheses Investigated in Animal Models

Loss of peripheral vestibular function results in debilitating postural, perceptual, and visual symptoms. A new approach to treating this clinical problem is to replace some aspects of peripheral vestibular function with a prosthesis that senses head motion and provides this information to the brain by stimulating the vestibular nerve. In this paper, I review studies done in animals over the past 15 years which lay the groundwork for transferring this approach to human patients with severe peripheral vestibular damage. The animal studies demonstrate that the visual and perceptual defects associated with peripheral vestibular damage can be improved with a vestibular implant, but the data on postural control remain less conclusive at this point in time.