ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT06229730VASICUpdated Sep 11, 2026

Normative Data of Vestibular and Postural Function in Danish Children

An observational study in Children, Only and Vestibular Function, sponsored by Gødstrup Hospital. Recruiting at 1 site in Denmark. Open to participants aged 6 Months to 10 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-11.

Sponsored by Gødstrup Hospital · Observational

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Jun 2025; still recruiting 1 year 5 months later.
Study type
Observational
Model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
90
Ages
6 Months to 10 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this age-based cohort study is to provide normative data of vestibular function in the general Danish pediatric population. Thus, the investigators will be able to compare patient data with norms, allowing for more precise diagnostics. The participants will be children in the age of 6 months to 10 years, without any known hearing or balance problems. The test protocol consists of questionnaires, hearing screening and vestibular and postural assessments.

Read the detailed description

Balance problems in children are an overlooked issue in the Danish healthcare system. Dysfunction of the vestibular system, i.e. vestibular dysfunction (VD), can have significant consequences for children's development and quality of life.

Knowledge about the prevalence of vestibular impairment and normative data of vestibular function in the Danish pediatric population is missing.

The investigators aim for a child friendly and reliable vestibular test protocol in the study. According to the investigators studies as well as international reports, the investigators have chosen a vestibular test protocol with Video Head Impulse Test (v-HIT), cervical and ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (c and oVEMP) as the tests are feasible, valid, and child friendly. To evaluate overall balance ability, the children are tested on a Computerized Dynamic Posturography.

The aim of the study is to provide normative data of vestibular function in the general Danish pediatric population. Thus, the investigators will be able to compare patient data with norms, allowing for more precise diagnostics.

Methods: The study is an age-based cohort study. Participants are children in the age of 6 months to 10 years, without any known hearing or balance problems. The participants are recruited in local nurseries, kinder gardens, and schools. All participants will go through a test protocol consisting of questionnaires, hearing screening and vestibular and postural assessments.

The primary endpoints are age-based norms for v-HIT, c and oVEMP, and posturographic results. The secondary endpoints are number of subjects with successful results of the vestibular test protocol and mean total Dizziness Handicap Inventory for patient caregivers (DHI-PC) score. A number of variables are collected such as demographics, developmental milestones, family history with focus on hearing and balance.

02

Conditions studied

  • Children, Only
  • Vestibular Function

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • Vestibular dysfunction
  • Balance problem
  • Children
  • Dizziness
  • Vestibular assessment
  • video Head Impulse Test
  • Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential
  • Computerized Dynamic Posturography
  • Quality of life
03

In context

Dizziness

226 studies on the registry are indexed under Dizziness; 56 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 90 is below the median of 126 across 44 observational studies indexed under Dizziness.

Browse Dizziness studies →

Lead sponsor

Gødstrup Hospital is the lead sponsor of 24 studies on the registry; 14 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
6 Months to 10 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

Healthy children in the age of 6 months to 10 years, without any known hearing or balance problems (35 children in the age group from 6 months to 2 years, 30 children in the age group from 3 to 5 years, and 25 children from 6 to 10 years) are recruited in local nurseries, kinder gardens, and schools.

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.

Inclusion criteria

  • Children in the age of 6 months -10 years
  • Normal hearing
  • No history of dizziness or balance problems
  • Written from the parents.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Premature birth
  • Existing or previous inner ear disease(s) or previous inner ear surgery
  • Cholesteatoma or previous middle ear surgery
  • Known or previous vestibular disorder (Vestibular schwannoma, Mb Meniere, vestibular neuritis or other known)
  • Delayed gross motor development evaluated through milestones.
  • Visual impairment to such a degree that the child is not able to maintain fixation on a dot one meter away.
  • Congenital nystagmus
  • Compromised eye muscle mobility
  • A diagnose of any neurological disease.
  • A diagnose of any psychiatric disease.
  • VEMP-electrode allergy
  • History of symptomatic head or neck trauma
  • Prescription of medicine which alters vestibular outputs (for instance sedative antihistamines)
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

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.

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.

05

Study design

Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
90 participants (estimated)
Patient registry
No

Groups and cohorts

  • Healthy children without hearing or balance problems

    Healthy children in the age of 6 months to 10 years, without any known hearing or balance problems and with normal gross motor development are recruited in local nurseries, kinder gardens, and schools.

    Diagnostic Test: video Head Impulse Test · Diagnostic Test: Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential · Diagnostic Test: Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential · Diagnostic Test: Computerized Dynamic Posturography · Other: Dizziness Handicap Inventory for patient caregivers

Interventions

  • Diagnostic testvideo Head Impulse Test

    For v-HIT, the Synapsys v-HIT Ulmer device is used.

    Also known as: vHIT

  • Diagnostic testCervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential

    For cVEMP, the Eclipse (Interacoustic, Middelfart, Denmark) is used. To bypass the frequent middle ear problems bone conduction stimuli (B-81, Interacoustic, Middelfart, Denmark) are administrated. The bone conductor is placed on the mastoid process and two trials at 70 dB nHL are conducted to check waveform reproducibility. 500 Hz short tone bursts (2-2-2 ms) are applied at 5 per second stimulus repetition rate.

    Also known as: cVEMP

  • Diagnostic testOcular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential

    For oVEMP, the Eclipse (Interacoustic, Middelfart, Denmark) is used. To bypass the frequent middle ear problems bone conduction stimuli (B-81, Interacoustic, Middelfart, Denmark) are administrated. The bone conductor is placed on the mastoid process and two trials at 70 dB nHL are conducted to check waveform reproducibility. 500 Hz short tone bursts (2-2-2 ms) are applied at 5 per second stimulus repetition rate.

    Also known as: oVEMP

  • Diagnostic testComputerized Dynamic Posturography

    To evaluate functional balance of the children and the relative contributions of the vision, proprioception, and vestibular system a CDP from Virtualis (Virtualis, Montpellier, France) is used.

    Also known as: CDP

  • OtherDizziness Handicap Inventory for patient caregivers

    DHI is a caregiver-reported 21-item questionnaire. It is designed to evaluate the perceived quality of life and handicap resulting from dizziness and unsteadiness for the pediatric population. For each question there are three possible answers: yes, sometimes or no. Each answer provides respectively 4, 2 and 0 points. The total DHI scores range from 0 to 84 with higher score being consistent with more limitation and more severe handicap. Scores under 16 are characterized as no limitation or handicap. A score from 16-26 present a mild perceived handicap and mild limitations. A DHI-score between 26-43 is classified as a moderate problem, and a score above 43 describes a severe perceived handicap and severe limitations.

    Also known as: DHI-PC

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. video Head Impulse Test (vHIT)

    Outcome measures: Age-based norms for mean VOR gain

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  2. video Head Impulse Test (vHIT)

    Outcome measures: Age-based norms for VOR gain asymmetry in percent (%).

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  3. video Head Impulse Test (vHIT)

    Outcome measures: Description of saccades (overt and covert saccades)

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  4. Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (cVEMP):

    Outcome measures: Age-based norms for latency P1 and latency N1 in milliseconds (ms)

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  5. Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (cVEMP):

    Outcome measures: Age-based norms for rectified interpeak amplitude P1-N1

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  6. Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (cVEMP):

    Outcome measures: Age-based norms for averaged EMG in µV

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  7. Cervical Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (cVEMP):

    Outcome measures: Age-based norms for left-right asymmetry ratio in percent (%)

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  8. Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (oVEMP):

    Outcome measures: Age-based norms for latency N1 and latency P1 in milliseconds

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  9. Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (oVEMP):

    Outcome measures: Age-based norms for interpeak amplitude N1-P1 in µV

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  10. Ocular Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential (oVEMP):

    Outcome measures: Age-based norms for left-right asymmetry ratio in percent (%)

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  11. Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP)

    Outcome measures: Aged-based norms for Sensory Organization Test (SOT): * Average equilibrium score (ES) for SOT1-6. Equilibrium scores is the average of three trials for each of the six conditions SOT1-6. * The SOT Composite score. It is a weighted average of the six conditions (SOT1-6) with greater weight given to the more difficult conditions. * The preference score. The preference score = (SOT3 + SOT6) / (SOT2 + SOT5)).

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  12. Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP)

    Outcome measures: Aged-based norms for motor control test (MCT): • Mean latency of the medium and the big movement respectively in anterior and posterior direction measured in milliseconds.

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  13. Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP)

    Outcome measures: Aged-based norms for adaptation test (ADT): • Mean sway energy score of toes-up and toes-down respectively. The sway energy score quantifies the force magnitude required to overcome the postural instability.

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Dizziness Handicap Inventory for patient caregivers (DHI-PC):

    Outcome measures: Mean total DHI-PC score. DHI-PC is a caregiver-reported 21-item questionnaire. For each question there are three possible answers: yes, sometimes or no. Each answer provides respectively 4, 2 and 0 points. The total DHI scores range from 0 to 84 with higher score being consistent with more limitation and more severe handicap.

    Time frame: Measured at baseline.

  2. Success rate of the vestibular test protocol

    Number of subjects with successful results of each of the vestibular assessments.

    Time frame: Measured at baseline

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 11, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06229730
Lead sponsor
Gødstrup Hospital
Responsible party
Signe Fiil Bønløkke (Principal Investigator, Gødstrup Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Jan 29, 2024
Start date
Jun 1, 2025
Primary completion
Aug 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 11, 2026

Study contacts

Signe F Bønløkke, PhD student
Contact
siband@rm.dk
+4541405064
Therese Ovesen, Professor
study chair · University Clinic for Balance, Flavour and Sleep, Department of ENT, Gødstrup Hospital, DK

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Interested in this study?

Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.

Contact study team

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion