Clinical Research Directory

VertiGO! - Get up and GO! With the Vestibular Implant

In the VertiGO! trial 13 participants with bilateral vestibulopathy (BV) and severe sensory neural hearing loss in the ear to be implanted will receive a combined cochlear (CI) and vestibular implant (VI), capable of stimulating both the cochlear and vestibular nerves (CVI). The participants will firstly make use of this combined stimulation during 3 weeks of prolonged use under direct supervision in a hospital environment. Following this, participants will make use of combined stimulation in a real-life environment (e.g., outside of the hospital setting) for 15 months under indirect supervision. This trial will serve as a proof-of-concept for restoring vestibular function in patients with BV, an as-of-yet untreatable disorder causing severe impairment and discomfort. The aims of this trial are to investigate efficacy and safety of prolonged vestibular stimulation, to identify the influence of different stimulation algorithms, to assess the feasibility of the combined VI/CI device, to develop a VI rehabilitation program and to further build on the fundamental knowledge of vestibular organ stimulation while also taking into account the patient perspective.

Spatial Orientation, Navigation, and Neuropsychologic Function in Patients With Vestibular Implant

The vestibular system, located in the inner ear, provides information to the brain information about how head acceleration and orientation relative to gravity. Damage to the vestibular system is usually permanent and can contribute to a lower quality of life. The goal of this research is to to examine how vestibular implants (VI) may improve performance of cognitive tasks in patients with severe vestibular damage. These higher-level cognitive behaviors include (1) orientation relative to gravity, (2) navigation, and (3) neuropsychologic function. VI patients will be tested in these three cognitive domains across study sessions: pre-stimulation (VI implanted but stimulation OFF), following chronic stimulation (12 days, VI-ON), and then again 1 month later with the VI turned off. There will be both "true" stimulation experiments during which the VI will provide motion-modulated stimulation and also "placebo" stimulation (no motion cues, tonic stimulus). The order of these experiments will be randomized and separated by 3 months. Researchers will compare VI data in the three cognitive domains (spatial orientation, navigation, \& neuropsychologic function) with control data from non-implanted bilateral vestibular loss (BVL) and unilateral vestibular loss (UVL) patients and normal subjects.

Vestibular Balance Therapy Intervention for Children

The goal of this within groups clinical trial is to determine the feasibility of a home-based vestibular balance therapy program for children with vestibular hypofunction. The main questions to be answered are: 1) what is the intervention's feasibility and 2) what is the intervention's preliminary impact on function? Participants will receive a comprehensive battery of vestibular function and balance tests, then an 8-week home-based intervention to be done 5 times/week with weekly checks from the physical therapist. Data will be used to design a larger clinical trial with a comparison group.