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arXiv · 2101.10568

Galvanic vestibular stimulation produces cross-modal improvements in visual thresholds

Jamie L. Voros·Sage O. Sherman·Rachel Rise·Alexander Kryuchkov·Ponder Stine·Allison P. Anderson·Torin K. Clark
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Abstract

Background: Stochastic resonance (SR) refers to a faint signal being enhanced with the addition of white noise. Previous studies have found that vestibular perceptual thresholds are lowered with noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (i.e., "in-channel" SR). Auditory white noise has been shown to improve tactile and visual thresholds, suggesting "cross-modal" SR. Objective: We aimed to study the cross-modal impact of noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) (n=9 subjects) on visual and auditory thresholds. Methods: We measured auditory and visual perceptual thresholds of human subjects across a swath of different nGVS levels in order to determine if a subject-specific best nGVS level elicited a reduction in thresholds as compared the no noise condition (sham). Results: We found an 18% improvement in visual thresholds (p = 0.026). Among the 7 of 9 subjects with reduced thresholds, the average improvement was 26%. Subjects with higher (worse) visual thresholds with no stimulation (sham) improved more than those with lower thresholds (p = 0.005). Auditory thresholds were unchanged by vestibular stimulation. Conclusions: These results are the first demonstration of cross-modal improvement with nGVS, indicating galvanic vestibular white noise can produce cross-modal improvements in some sensory channels, but not all.

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Jamie L. Voros, Sage O. Sherman, Rachel Rise, Alexander Kryuchkov, Ponder Stine, Allison P. Anderson, Torin K. Clark. 2021-01-26. Galvanic vestibular stimulation produces cross-modal improvements in visual thresholds. https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.10568

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