[CCoE Notice] Cullen College Dissertation Announcement

[Hutchinson, Inez A]

[Dissertation Defense Announcement at the Cullen College of Engineering]

OPTIMIZING NOISY GALVANIC VESTIBULAR STIMULATION

FOR ENHANCING VESTIBULAR PERCEPTION AND MANUAL CONTROL PERFORMANCE

Austin Michael Bollinger

April 30, 2024; 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (CST)
Location: SERC 2028

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19*3ameeting_Nzg2ZjQ3M2UtMjIwMC00ZWYwLTk0YWUtZDIxMzM4NzQwNzI0*40thread.v2/0?context=*7b*22Tid*22*3a*22170bbabd-a2f0-4c90-ad4b-0e8f0f0c4259*22*2c*22Oid*22*3a*22e7e49fb8-277a-4207-b65b-3ff25352eb5b*22*7d:Teams__;JSUlJSUlJSUlJSUlJSUl!!LkSTlj0I!AVVKwxkePTMmUn33aHLhm96z71TfOGUR1XZMlgHturBXl4j9DqAGP22_EXm0F9Q6GA3lyegNkm326at48OzEWxq1SvU$ 



Committee Chair:

Metin Akay, Ph.D.

Committee Members:
Yasemin Akay, Ph.D. | Scott J. Wood, Ph.D.

Abstract

The vestibular system is a complex structure that aids in your sense of spatial awareness, motion perception, and postural balance. Noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) has been demonstrated to improve vestibular function in balance control and motion perception by delivering an imperceptible white noise stimulation. However, there is currently no consensus on the optimal frequency bandwidth of the stimulation signal used with nGVS. While broadband nGVS stimuli often utilize frequencies over a 0-30 Hz range, we hypothesized that limiting the frequency range to 10-30 Hz would be more beneficial to avoid overlap with natural frequencies of movement in the 0-2 Hz range while still facilitating stochastic resonance using frequencies attributed to higher cortical pathways. This study aimed to compare nGVS efficacy to improve perceptual and manual control performance when using profile frequencies over 0-2 Hz versus 10-30 Hz. Eighteen healthy subjects performed direction-recognition vestibular thresholds in roll-tilt and inter-aural translation, perceptual roll-tilt motion tracking, and a manual control nulling task with two different nGVS treatments compared to baseline. Baseline measures were collected on each task and compared to the two profiles with nGVS delivering 300 uA amplitude to the mastoid process. The 10-30 Hz nGVS significantly reduced direction-recognition thresholds in roll-tilt and inter-aural translations compared to the baseline condition at 1.0 Hz motion, while no significant effects using 0-2 Hz nGVS were found on thresholds. Manual control nulling performance improved significantly using 10-30 Hz nGVS, while 0-2 Hz nGVS showed no significant improvement. The results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that nGVS delivered at frequencies in the 10-30 Hz range will optimize human perception and manual control performance.

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