1970/02/01 by W. J. Oosterveld · 1 citation
Health Professions · Medicine · Neuroscience · #Balance, Gait, and Falls Prevention #Medical research and treatments #Vestibular and auditory disorders
paper · doi:10.1001/archotol.1970.00770040224009
openalex publication_date 1970/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/03/03
THE otoliths of the utricle and saccule are the suborgans of the peripheral vestibular system which are sensitive to linear accelerations.<sup>1-6</sup>The sensitivity of the vestibular system to linear acceleration can be measured with the aid of the parallel swing which is a platform suspended from above by four cables (Fig 1). Displacement of the platform from the neutral position, followed by release, causes damped, pendular movement in the horizontal plane. The result is a sinusoidally changing linear acceleration of both the swing and the patient on it which can be used as a clinical test for the evaluation of otolith function. According to Groen,<sup>6</sup>the sinusoidal linear acceleration has the formula: W<sup>2</sup>A sine Wt, in which W( = √g/1) is the circular frequency of the swing and A is the amplitude, W = 2π in which v is the frequency in movements per second (Fig 2). Each