Skip to main content

Vestibular Prosthesis, Interface

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

Definition

A vestibular prosthesis is an implantable neural stimulator system designed to restore sensation of head movement for individuals who have lost the mechanotransduction function of hair cells in both inner ear labyrinths. Similar to cochlear implants (which sense sound using a microphone, decompose that sound into independent components, and then electrically stimulate the cochlear nerve), a vestibular prosthesis senses head motion using inertial sensors and conveys head angular velocity information to the corresponding branches of the vestibular nerve.

Detailed Description

Normal Vestibular Function

In normal individuals, sensation of head rotation, orientation, and translation originates in the semicircular canals (SCCs) and otoconial end organs in each labyrinth. The two labyrinths modulate activity on afferent fibers within each of the five vestibular nerve branches so as to provide the central nervous system with information regarding the head’s 3-dimensional (3D)...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bonham BH, Litvak LM (2008) Current focusing and steering: modeling, physiology, and psychophysics. Hear Res 242:141–153

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carey JP, Della Santina CC (2005) Principles of applied vestibular physiology. In: Cummings CW (ed) Cummings otolaryngology: head and neck surgery, 4th edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 315–359

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiang B, Fridman GY, Dai C, Rahman MA, Della Santina C (2011) Design and performance of a multichannel vestibular prosthesis that restores semicircular canal sensation in macaques. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng IEEE-TNSRE-2010-0085. R2

    Google Scholar 

  • Della Santina CC, Migliaccio AA, Patel AH (2007) A multichannel semicircular canal neural prosthesis using electrical stimulation to restore 3-D vestibular sensation. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 54:1016–1030

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fridman GY, Della Santina CC (2012) Progress toward development of a multichannel vestibular prosthesis for treatment of bilateral vestibular deficiency. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 295(11):2010–2029

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gong WS, Merfeld DM (2000) Prototype neural semicircular canal prosthesis using patterned electrical stimulation. Ann Biomed Eng 28:572–581

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gong WS, Merfeld DM (2002) System design and performance of a unilateral horizontal semicircular canal prosthesis. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 49:175–181

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hayden R, Sawyer S, Frey E, Mori S, Migliaccio AA, Della Santina CC (2011) Virtual labyrinth model of vestibular afferent excitation via implanted electrodes: validation and application to design of a multichannel vestibular prosthesis. Exp Brain Res 210:623–640

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Macherey O, Deeks JM, Carlyon RP (2011) Extending the limits of place and temporal pitch perception in cochlear implant users. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol 12:233–251

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Merrill DR, Bikson M, Jefferys JGR (2005) Electrical stimulation of excitable tissue: design of efficacious and safe protocols. J Neurosci Methods 141:171–198

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Robblee LS, Rose TL (1990) Electrochemical guidelines for selection of protocols and electrode materials for neural stimulation. In: Agnew WF, McCreery DB (eds) Neural prostheses: fundamental studies. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, pp 25–66

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chenkai Dai .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Dai, C., Della Santina, C. (2014). Vestibular Prosthesis, Interface. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_13-7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_13-7

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Vestibular Prosthesis, Interface
    Published:
    08 May 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_13-7

  2. Original

    Vestibular Prosthesis, Interface
    Published:
    15 March 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_13-6