Visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive cues are known to influence the orientation of our body in space. Auditory cues also influence spatial orientation, as recent studies shown they affect static postural balance. However, the influence of auditory stimulation on dynamic postural balance tasks, such as heading direction during vestibular perturbation, remains understudied....
Too preliminary for practice change; findings are from a healthy-adult, lab-induced vestibular asymmetry model and do not yet translate to clinical rehabilitation protocols.
Understanding how auditory cues compensate for vestibular imbalance could eventually inform sound-based rehabilitation strategies for patients with unilateral vestibular disorders.
- 01Healthy adults with experimentally induced vestibular asymmetry drifted in heading direction during stepping-in-place tasks.
- 02Auditory cues meaningfully influenced the direction and magnitude of heading drift.
- 03Study used a controlled lab model, not a clinical population with real vestibular pathology.
- 04Published in Experimental Brain Research; findings are exploratory and mechanistic.
- 05Results support a multisensory (hearing + balance) model of locomotor heading control.
Auditory cues affect heading direction during stepping-in-place in individuals with vestibular asymmetry.
studypartially supportedExperimentally induced vestibular asymmetry in healthy adults produces measurable heading drift during stepping-in-place.
studysupported- PMID
- 42322435
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00221-026-07329-3.
- Journal
- Experimental Brain Research
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 2b
- Population
- Healthy adults with experimentally induced unilateral vestibular asymmetry
- Intervention
- Auditory cues during stepping-in-place task under experimentally induced vestibular asymmetry
- Comparator
- No auditory cue / baseline stepping condition
Primary outcomes
Heading direction deviation during stepping-in-place; Effect of auditory cue type on direction of drift