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Ear‐Eye reflexes while riding in a car
Author(s) -
Clack T. Dean,
Milburn Wanda O.,
Graham Malcolm D.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
the laryngoscope
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.181
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1531-4995
pISSN - 0023-852X
DOI - 10.1288/00005537-198502000-00010
Subject(s) - vestibular system , caloric theory , reflex , audiology , nystagmus , semicircular canal , psychology , eye movement , head tilt , sitting , vestibulo–ocular reflex , physical medicine and rehabilitation , medicine , neuroscience , communication , pathology
Persons with diminished or absent vestibulo‐ocular reflexes (VORs) are thought to have difficulty with ocular stabilization during sufficiently rapid head movements. This suggests the hypothesis that labyrinthine defective individuals might have impaired visual abilities when in a moving motor vehicle. Ten licensed drivers likely to have abnormal VORs were recruited to assess this possibility. Their labyrinthine function was indexed by measurements of ocular counterroll responses to static head tilt and the nystagmus induced with caloric stimulations. Each person was evaluated on a visual task, i.e. , answers to questions about alphanumeric information read from a stationary sign while sitting still and while riding in a car. Comparisons of vision scores tend to be lower in the moving than in the still condition. Furthermore, these decrements appear more closely related to the magnitudes of ocular counterroll than to the caloric reflexes. These results have implications concerning otolithic us. semicircular canal function, vehicle operations by vestibularimpaired individuals, and evaluations of clinical treatments which employ vestibulotoxic drugs.