NYSTAGMUS FREQUENCY VERSUS SLOW PHASE VELOCITY IN ROTATORY AND CALORIC NYSTAGMUS

Graded rotatory and thermic stimulations were carried out in five steps in healthy, normal subjects. This included five pairs of rotatory and five pairs of caloric tests with increasing strengths of stimulation. The thermic and rotatory nystagmus patterns were correlated, and the behavior of the culmination of the nystagmus frequency and slow phase velocity were compared. The study offered a critical evaluation of these most commonly used parameters of nystagmus intensity as expressions of vestibular sensitivity. Objective graphic comparison and statistical evaluation indicated that frequency measurement is a more reliable parameter of the provoked vestibular nystagmus. © 1969, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.