In pediatric vestibular evaluation, is there any clinical significance of high gain during rotary chair testing?
Thats a very good question. I havent seen indications of this in the literature, although literature in this area is quite sparse. I personally havent seen clinical significance here, although one of my recent studies did indicate that children may demonstrate higher overall gain measures than adults, at least at some test frequencies. Certainly with high gain and strong output, one may begin to consider a hyperactive system, but I am not aware of an evidence-based correlate there with this population. For example, I havent seen a high gain measure that would correlate with clinical findings such as a hyperactive system, motion sickness, or other clinical entity. I would be interested in hearing more about such findings and theres an idea for a nice research study in there somewhere! This Ask the Expert question was based on information in the recorded course, Pediatric Vestibular Evaluation, Maureen Valente, Ph.D., earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Speech
