Application of VEMPs
An early application was in the diagnosis of superior canal dehiscence a condition in which there can be clinical symptoms and signs of vestibular activation by loud sounds. Such cases have a pathologically lowered threshold for the sound-evoked VEMP. The test is also of use in demonstrating successful treatment. It has diagnostic applications in Ménière's disease, vestibular neuritis, otosclerosis as well as central disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis.
Other methods of activating the vestibular apparatus have been developed, including taps to the head, bone vibration and short duration electrical stimulation. It is likely that both air-conducted and bone-conducted stimuli primarily excite irregularly discharging otolith afferents. The two otolith receptors appear to have differing resonances that may also explain their responses.
In addition to the response in the SCM, similar reflexes can be shown for the masseter and for eye muscles (oVEMPs or OVEMPs = ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials).
Read more about this topic: Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential
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