OBJECTIVE: The aims of the study are to determine the
intra-, interobserver, and the test re-test reliability of the cervical and
ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs).
METHODS: Twenty healthy subjects underwent acoustically and
forehead tap elicited cervical and ocular VEMPs. The measurements were
repeated one week later.
RESULTS: The intra- and interobserver reliability of both
ocular and cervical VEMPs is excellent. The test re-test reliability of the
raw p13n23 peak-to-peak amplitudes of the cervical VEMPs is excellent (ICC:
0.76, 0.87) and the p13 latencies show a good reliability (ICC: 0.56, 0.73).
The raw n1p1 peak-to-peak amplitudes of the ocular VEMPs show a fair-to-good
test re-test reliability (ICC: 0.51, 0.64) and the n1 and p1 latencies show
a poor reliability (ICC: -0.17 ≤ x ≤ 0.44).
CONCLUSIONS: The intra- and interobserver reliability of
the cervical and ocular VEMPs is excellent. The raw ocular and cervical VEMP
peak-to-peak amplitudes are the most reliable parameters, followed by the
cervical VEMP latencies. The ocular VEMP latencies shows a poor test re-test
reliability. The individual VEMP results, however, remained within normal
limits despite the test re-test variability.
