TY - GEN
T1 - Use of galvanic vestibular feedback for a balance prosthesis
AU - Peterka, Robert J.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Activation of vestibular afferents by a bilateral bipolar galvanic vestibular stimulus (GVS) evokes medial-lateral (ML) body sway. By applying a GVS feedback signal that is a function of measured ML head motion, the potential exists for GVS to restore a useful vestibular contribution to ML balance control in vestibular-deficient subjects who remain responsive to GVS. A key to developing an effective balance prosthesis using GVS is to determine the functional relationship between GVS and its influence on the brain's internal estimate of head motion. We describe how a model-based interpretation of GVS-evoked body sway can be used to identify this functional relationship. Results indicate that the GVS-evoked internal motion estimate is effectively a low-pass filtered version of the GVS current. With preliminary data, we demonstrate that GVS feedback, compensated for the identified low-pass characteristics, can either remove the ability of a subject with normal vestibular function to use vestibular information for balance control, or can restore the ability of a subject with bilateral vestibular loss to maintain balance in a condition requiring vestibular information for balance control.
AB - Activation of vestibular afferents by a bilateral bipolar galvanic vestibular stimulus (GVS) evokes medial-lateral (ML) body sway. By applying a GVS feedback signal that is a function of measured ML head motion, the potential exists for GVS to restore a useful vestibular contribution to ML balance control in vestibular-deficient subjects who remain responsive to GVS. A key to developing an effective balance prosthesis using GVS is to determine the functional relationship between GVS and its influence on the brain's internal estimate of head motion. We describe how a model-based interpretation of GVS-evoked body sway can be used to identify this functional relationship. Results indicate that the GVS-evoked internal motion estimate is effectively a low-pass filtered version of the GVS current. With preliminary data, we demonstrate that GVS feedback, compensated for the identified low-pass characteristics, can either remove the ability of a subject with normal vestibular function to use vestibular information for balance control, or can restore the ability of a subject with bilateral vestibular loss to maintain balance in a condition requiring vestibular information for balance control.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84870820693&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84870820693&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/EMBC.2012.6347394
DO - 10.1109/EMBC.2012.6347394
M3 - Conference contribution
C2 - 23367329
AN - SCOPUS:84870820693
SN - 9781424441198
T3 - Proceedings of the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS
SP - 6137
EP - 6140
BT - 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC 2012
T2 - 34th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBS 2012
Y2 - 28 August 2012 through 1 September 2012
ER -