Reduction of the vertical vestibular-ocular reflex in military aircraft pilots exposed to tactical, high-performance flight.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Exposure to high-performance flight stresses the vestibular system and may lead to adaptive changes in the vestibular responses of pilots. We investigated the vestibular-ocular reflex of pilots with different histories of flight exposure both with respect to hours of flight and flight conditions (tactical, high-performance vs. non-high-performance) to evaluate if and how adaptative changes are observable.

Methods

We evaluated the vestibular-ocular reflex of aircraft pilots using the video Head Impulse Test. In study 1, we assessed three groups of military pilots: Group 1 had 68 pilots with few hours of flight experience (<300 h) in non-high-performance flight conditions; Group 2 had 15 pilots with many hours of flight (>3,000 h) and regularly flying tactical, high

SUBMITTER: Bertolini G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10289026 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature