Investigating the role of vestibular function in motion sickness and visually induced motion sickness by multiple vestibular function tests

Motion sickness (MS) and visually induced motion sickness (VIMS) are vestibular system-related conditions affecting balance. To investigate the role of vestibular function and susceptibility in MS/VIMS in healthy college students and to evaluate the effectiveness of various vestibular function tests in detecting these disorders. Five hundred young adults, grouped by motion sickness susceptibility questionnaire-short (MSSQ-S) and visually induced motion sickness susceptibility questionnaire-short (VIMSSQ-S) questionnaires, were further analyzed via continuous linear regression to validate the grouping strategy. The participants completed a caloric test (CT), video head impulse test (vHIT), dynamic visual acuity (DVA), subjective visual vertical/horizontal (SVV/SVH), and sensory organisation tests (SOT). Analysis of the relationship between the results of the five tests and the MS/VIMS. CT revealed significant differences in right cold slow-phase velocity (RC SPV) and left cold slow-phase velocity (LC SPV) among groups (p < 0.001), with strong correlations between these values and MS/VIMS susceptibility (p < 0.05). Among 52 subjects with abnormal CT results, significant differences were found in vHIT, DVA, and SOT (p < 0.001), while SVV/SVH showed a significant difference only in MSSQ-S scores (p = 0.034). This study comprehensively assessed vestibular function in MS and VIMS susceptible individuals, confirming increased sensitivity and highlighting the need for targeted evaluation strategies.