Vestibular Evaluation in the Pediatric Population

The topic of pediatric vestibular assessment is a small but quickly growing subject in the field of audiology Vestibular evaluations have been performed on adults more frequently and for a longer period of time than children (Fife et al 2000). Consequently, most, if not all, of the equipment and tactics used for vestibular testing were designed with testing adults in mind. These procedures are the same ones used on children during vestibular evaluations with the assumption that they will be appropriate for the pediatric population as well (Janky and Rodriguez, 2018). Children have different needs and aren’t able to tolerate the same level of rigor or discomfort that adults are, so the established procedures may not be appropriate for them. Therefore, a literature search was performed to answer the question,“For the pediatric population, what evidence exists supporting current assessment tools for evaluating vestibular function and hypofunction?