Neurophysiological and neuropsychological features of patients with vibration sickness in combination with sensorineural hearing loss

Introduction. The study of pathophysiological changes in the central nervous system in the dynamics of the progression of vibration disease (VD) caused by exposure to local vibration, combined with occupational sensorineural hearing loss (OSHL), includes research into the causes of these disorders, the mechanisms of their development, and emphasizes the importance of an integrated approach to diagnosing changes in the functional activity of the brain.

The study aims to evaluate and compare changes in neurophysiological and neuropsychological parameters in patients with vibration disease caused by exposure to local vibration, combined with and without occupational sensorineural hearing loss.

Materials and methods. The authors performed neuropsychological testing, neuroenergetic mapping, and registration of somatosensory evoked potentials in patients with grades I and II vibration disease (n=55 and 64, respectively), of whom 46 were diagnosed with VD in combination with occupational sensorineural hearing loss (OSHL) and 73 without it.

Results. The number of OSHL cases in patients with grade I and II of vibration disease had no statistically significant differences (40.0% and 37.5%, respectively). At the same time, no statistically significant differences were found in patients with VD with and without occupational sensorineural hearing loss when comparing indicators characterizing the functional activity of the brain.

Limitations. The limitations of the study are due to the small number of subgroups in the division of patients with VD, depending on the degree of severity of occupational sensorineural hearing loss, and the lack of correlation between indicators characterizing the functional activity of the brain when compared.

Conclusion. As a result of stressful exposure to noise and localized vibration, assemblers and riveters at an aircraft manufacturing plant with a confirmed diagnosis of vibration sickness are diagnosed with OSHL in 38% of cases.Changes in neurophysiological and neuropsychological parameters in patients with vibration disease caused by exposure to local vibration are unidirectional and do not depend on the presence of a concomitant occupational disease in the form of sensorineural hearing loss.

Ethics. The study was approved by the local Ethics Committee of the East Siberian Institute of Medical and Environmental Research (LEK conclusions No. 3 dated 02/16/2021 and No. 5 dated 03/21/2023) and was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration of the World Association "Ethical Principles of Scientific Medical Research involving Humans" (as amended in 2024), not it infringed on the rights and did not endanger the well-being of the subjects, the study was conducted with their consent.

Contributions:
Shevchenko O.I. — research concept and design, collection and processing of data from a common database, collection of data on NEM, neuropsychological examination, writing and formatting of text, editing;
Lakhman O.L. — research design, article editing;
Slivnitsyna N.V. — performed the collection and analysis of clinical data;
Rusanova D.V. — collection of data on SSEP.

Funding. The funding was provided as part of the State Assignment for Basic Scientific Research.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Received: 09.06.2026 / Accepted: 06.07.2026 / Published: 11.08.2026

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