Verlag des Forschungszentrums Jülich
JUEL-4232
Yapamanu, Goutham C.
Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation Unit Design for the Therapeutic Treatment of Neglect Syndrome Patients
70 S., 2006
Galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) is a technique that has been used for a clinical
measure. GVS is performed by passing small currents through the vestibular
labyrinth, using surface electrodes. To measure the effect on the vestibular system,
one may record either eye movements or postural movements (which can be
controlled with the help of a computer based Matlab simulink program). Typical
stimulus configurations include placing an electrode on each mastoid, one positive
and one negative, to produce medial / lateral sway or horizontal / vertical eye
movements. The ability of this technique in reducing the neglected region of the
patient suffering from the ‘Neglect syndrome’ is an important issue in therapeutic
neurological research.
In the Institute of Medicine (Research Centre Juelich), novel GVS-based stimulation
techniques for the therapeutic treatment of the so called ‘Neglect syndrome’ are
under development. There are how ever only a few systems for Vestibular Galvanic
Stimulation available in the market. These systems for GVS are much restricted with
their stimulation parameters such as the frequency ranges and stimulation patterns.
So we at Central Institute for Electronic, Research Centre Juelich, developed a dual
channel GVS unit both in positive and negative directions independently, therefore
enabling independent current stimuli in the frequency range from 0 to 10 KHz,
voltage range from 0v to ±35 V, current range from 0 to ±7.5 mA timer up to 2 hours
for the safety of the patient. The purpose of this designed GVS device is to optimize
GVS stimulation pattern for reducing the neglected region in Neglect Syndrome
patients and can is aimed to be used for research purposes.
Neuerscheinungen
Schriften des Forschungszentrums Jülich
Ihre Ansprechperson
Heike Lexis
+49 2461 61-5367
zb-publikation@fz-juelich.de