An interventional study of cortical vestibular evoked potentials (CVEPs) in Vestibular Neuronitis, sponsored by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Terminated at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-29.
Sponsored by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic
The pathophysiology of vertigo is complex and usually requires specialist involvement. During the diagnostic process, patients commonly undergo tests which assess the integrity of the gaze and posture stabilisation mechanisms involving the inner ear (vestibular system), the visual systems and the subconscious neural pathways that interconnect them. Whilst these tests are useful they fail to provide information concerning the neural connections to the cortex and therefore neglect the perceptual aspects of disequilibrium.
At present the possibility of routine examination of these higher projections remains elusive as no practical alternatives to the expensive functional magnetic resonance imaging systems exist. However, recently a novel method of recording cortical vestibular evoked potentials (CVEPs) has been described.
CVEPs utilise an existing method used to interrogate cortical projections from the auditory system in which sound waves stimulate the inner ear and the resulting electrical responses from the brain are recorded. The recent breakthrough is in the realisation that these responses also contain information from the balance organs and therefore are a direct measure of cortical processing of the vestibular inputs.
Current evidence shows that CVEPs are present in the normal population and absent in patients with no vestibular function. The primary aim for this study is to extend the patient cohort to include those who have a vestibular injury but retain residual function. Patients going through standard testing will have also have CVEPs on both ears providing seminal information into the effect of injury to the peripheral vestibular system on the cortical pathways. Furthermore, by following the cohort through their complete management pathway it will be possible to ascertain if the CVEP can be used to predict rehabilitation outcome success.
Ears with a vestibular deficit:
Patients referred to the tertiary ear nose and throat clinics as well otoneurological clinics at the Royal Hallamshire will be eligible for enrolment. The investigators aim to record data from 36 ears with vestibular dysfunction.
A) Patients will receive a consultation with an ENT Consultant or Registrar as per standard practice.
B) If the patient is deemed by the doctor to have an otoneurological cause for their symptoms then further audiovestibular testing and imaging will be arranged as per standard practice. The patients will then be made aware of this study and if interested will be given the opportunity to discuss it further with the chief investigator (CI) or the principal investigator (PI).
C) If agreeable the patients will be given information packs by the PI/CI and taken through the study.
D) The patients will leave the consultation with the information pack and be asked to consider participation in the study. They will have no obligation to take part and they can contact the any member of the research team to ask for further information or to have any questions answered.
E) Upon their return for audiovestibular testing the patients will inform the CI/PI if they wish to participate in the study and if so will have an additional test at the end of test sequence. This will add approximately 30 minutes to their appointment time.
F) Patients who are suitable for rehabilitation (as per standard care pathway) will go ahead and have the course of treatment at subsequent visit(s). The outcomes following the treatment will be logged and correlated with the CVEP to check for any correlation that may or may not be present.
Otologically normal ears:
Normative data will be collected from 36 normal ears from subjects that have no history of audiovestibular symptoms and are not being investigated for any balance disorders. Healthy controls will be recruited via poster advertisements and potential participants asked to contact the research team if they are considering taking part.
34 studies on the registry are indexed under Vestibular Neuronitis; 4 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 51 is close to the median of 50 across 27 interventional studies indexed under Vestibular Neuronitis.
Browse Vestibular Neuronitis studies →Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the lead sponsor of 214 studies on the registry; 27 are open to participants now.
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Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Vestibular deficit Group:
NORMATIVE GROUP:
Exclusion Criteria:
VESTIBULAR DEFICIT GROUP PATIENTS
NORMATIVE GROUP:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
* Initial clinical assessment including otoneurological examination, pure tone audiometry, tympanometry vestibular screening tests and Magnetic Resonance Imaging as clinically indicated. * The cortical vestibular evoked potentials will add approximately add an extra 30 minutes to the test sequence but is minimally invasive and will not cause any pain or discomfort. It will be conducted on both the affected and non-affected ears.
Procedure: cortical vestibular evoked potentials (CVEPs)
Normative data will be collected from 36 normal ears from subjects that have no history of audiovestibular symptoms and are not being investigated for any balance disorders. The cortical vestibular evoked potentials will be recorded from both ears
Procedure: cortical vestibular evoked potentials (CVEPs)
CVEPs utilise an existing method used to interrogate cortical projections from the auditory system in which sound waves stimulate the inner ear and the resulting electrical responses from the brain are recorded (known as Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials CAEPs)
Also known as: Cortical auditory evoked potential
The degree of change of cortical vestibular evoked potential measured by amplitude (in microvolts)
Time frame: 6 months
The time interval between the stimulation and response (latency) of cortical vestibular evoked potential
Time frame: 6 months
This study is terminated, as verified in Apr 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust →