Vestibular Laboratory

A specialist Brain Research & Imaging Centre (BRIC) laboratory focusing on vestibular and oculomotor function
Vestibular Lab
The Vestibular Laboratory in the Brain Research & Imaging Centre (BRIC) focuses on vestibular and oculomotor function.
It allows standardised tests of eye movements using videonystamography and vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) function using rotary chair testing.
The Vestibular Laboratory focuses on vestibular and oculomotor function. It allows standardised tests of eye movements using videonystamography (saccades, smooth pursuit, optokinetic reflex) and vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) function using rotary chair testing.
The VOR can also be tested using the instrumented video head impulse test (v HIT) that measures function of the three semicircular canals. Perceptual tests include visual vertical testing. Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) following both acoustic and galvanic electrical stimulation provide an assessment of efferent pathways from the otoliths and can help to differentiate between end organ and nerve dysfunction. These tests can be coupled with objective measures of balance and walking in the motor control laboratory. Direct stimulation of vestibular nerve afferents using galvanic vestibular stimulation can be used to directly investigate the role of the vestibular system in the control of balance in health and disease1-4. In all the laboratory provides a holistic assessment of vestibular involvement in oculomotor, balance control and perception.
Recent research has included a randomised controlled trial of people with multiple sclerosis with a defined vestibulopathy5. Current work is focusing on the pattern of damage following inner ear decompression sickness in divers and the mechanisms of recovery over time6.
 
Professor Jonathan Marsden
Professor Jonathan Marsden
Right eye recording
Eye recording
Left eye recording

Key publications
  1. Marsden JF, Blakey G, Day BL. Modulation of human vestibular-evoked postural responses by alterations in load. J Physiol. May 1 2003;548(Pt 3):949-53. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2002.029991
  2. Marsden JF, Castellote J, Day BL. Bipedal distribution of human vestibular-evoked postural responses during asymmetrical standing. Journal of Physiology. 2002;542:323-331. IN FILE.
  3. Marsden JF, Day BL. Bilateral lower limb responses evoked by unilateral vestibular stimulation in humans. International society for postural and gait research. 2003:P115. NOT IN FILE.
  4. Marsden JF, Playford ED, Day BL. The Vestibular control of balance following stroke. Journal of Neurology and Neurosurgery. 2005;76(5):670-678. NOT IN FILE.
  5. Marsden J, Pavlou M, Dennett R, et al. Vestibular rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial and cost-effectiveness analysis comparing customised with booklet based vestibular rehabilitation for vestibulopathy and a 12 month observational cohort study of the symptom reduction and recurrence rate following treatment for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo. BMC Neurol. Nov 27 2020;20(1):430. doi:10.1186/s12883-020-01983-y
  6. Vestibular DCS Resources