Clinical Research Directory

Study of Measurement Properties of QTUG in Older Adults With Vestibulopathy

Falls can be serious for older people, sometimes even leading to trips to the hospital. It's important to find ways to help prevent falls, especially for older people. Doctors have different tests they use to figure out who might be more likely to fall. One test they use is called the Time Up and Go (TUG) test, where a person has to stand up, walk a bit, and sit back down. Now there's a newer version of this test called the quantitative TUG (QTUG), which uses special sensors to measure how well someone can keep their balance. But not many doctors use it yet because they're not sure how good it is compared to other tests. We want to study how good the QTUG is at measuring balance in older people with dizziness problems. Study 1: First, the Principal Investigator (PI) will look at data from previous routine tests done on 55 older adults seen within the regional department of Neurotology between 2018 and 2024 to see how the QTUG results match up with what the doctor already knows about balance problems. Study 2: Secondly, the PI will conduct a larger study with 120 older adults (+65 years) who have dizziness issues. Participants will be asked to undertake a variety of tests, including the QTUG test, 30 sec sit to stand test, and the PI will ask them questions about how they feel about their balance. Study 3: Sixty of the recruited 120 patients will do special exercises for six months to help improve their balance, while the other sixty will only do these exercises at the end of the study. The PI will then compare the data to see if the QTUG test can tell if exercises are helping or not. Study 4: Finally, the PI will recruit another 60 elderly participants to see if the QTUG test can tell who's more likely to fall over the next year. The PI will compare the results of the test to what happens to these people within a year to see how accurate the QTUG test is at predicting falls. Using data from these studies, the PI hopes to learn if the QTUG test is a good way to measure balance problems in older people and if it can help doctors figure out who might be at risk of falling, and if the exercises are helping to prevent falls.

A Study to Evaluate the Safety and Performance of a Vestibular Implant in Adults to Provide Balance Restoration

The main aim of this study is to understand if an experimental vestibular implant system can improve balance performance. The system consists of a vestibular implant combined with a cochlear implant sound processor and programming software. The implant is designed to preserve hearing in the implanted ear. The vestibular implant is surgically placed under the skin just behind the ear in the mastoid bone and has an electrode that stimulates the vestibular nerve. A sound processor is worn behind the ear and powers the implant via the coil. The study will be conducted in adults with bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP) who have normal to severe hearing loss in the inner ear. The study participants will undergo a series of tests that include evaluations of their balance and hearing and self-reported questionnaires on their balance and general health.

The Effect of Otolith Dysfunction and Its Rehabilitation in Vestibular Diseases

This randomized controlled study compared the clinical and electrophysiological effectiveness of three vestibular rehabilitation approaches in patients with unilateral peripheral vestibular disease accompanied by otolith dysfunction: (1) traditional Cawthorne-Cooksey exercises (CCE), (2) two-dimensional (2D) otolith-targeted visual habituation, and (3) three-dimensional/virtual reality (3D/VR) otolith-targeted visual habituation. Forty-five patients aged 18-60 years were randomized into three groups and followed for 6 weeks. The Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) was used as the primary clinical outcome, and cervical and ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials (cVEMP and oVEMP) were used as objective electrophysiological measures. Patients were monitored remotely using the Moodle learning management system.

Therapeutic Effects of Electrical Vestibular Stimulation (EVS) on Balance and Gait

The aim of the study to is determine the safety, feasibility, efficacy, and persistence of non-invasive EVS to improve balance and gait performance in healthy individuals across the lifespan. Specifically, our objective is to measure balance and gait performance before, during and after exposure to single sessions and across repeated sequences of EVS at multiple study partner sites.