Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to change it's structure and function in response to stimuli.

What Are the Vestibular, Auditory, Visual, and Limbic Systems?

The auditory, vestibular, visual, and limbic systems are individual systems in your body that work in unique ways to inform your brain and nervous system about the environment around you and where you are in space. Together, they play a significant role in your emotional and physical well-being, allowing you to feel safe and centered in your body and in the world. 

Let's look at each system in more detail and discuss what happens when they become imbalanced or dysfunctional. 

Vestibular

Your vestibular system provides a sense of balance and orientation about where your body is in space. Your inner ear plays a central role in processing information for your vestibular system, sending signals to your brain about the movement and position of your head and body[2].

This system is key in regulating eye movements and posture and is crucial to overall balance and coordination. When the vestibular system is damaged or not functioning properly, it not only disrupts physical orientation but can also impact vision and hearing and even influence cognitive abilities[3].

According to the Brain Injury Institute of America, up to 50% of people with a history of traumatic brain injury experience vestibular impairments. 

In fact, research shows that an imbalance in the vestibular system can lead to emotional dysregulation, such as anxiety, by impacting emotional processing[4][5].

Auditory

Your auditory system helps you perceive and understand the sounds you hear by transforming sound waves in your environment into vibrational messages within your inner ear. Traveling from your outer ear to your middle ear and finally to your inner ear, these vibrations eventually connect with your auditory nerve via the vibration of tiny hair cells in your inner ear. From here, information is sent to your brain, allowing you to perceive sound[6]. 

Interestingly, the same tiny hair cells that capture sound vibration also influence your vestibular system, giving us some insight into how your spatial and auditory awareness connect and influence one another[7]. 

Distortion or inconsistencies in the auditory system make it challenging to interpret auditory stimuli, leading to a range of imbalances. 

Why? 

Because your ears must work together in a coordinated fashion. Issues around coordination, comprehension, and connecting thoughts to words may arise when an imbalance in hearing occurs. 

Simply put, disorganized auditory inputs can create confusion in the brain.

This is exemplified by what is known as the "right ear advantage." 

Studies show that most people can perceive auditory stimuli (sound) more accurately from their right ears than their left[8]. The reason for this is due to the mapping of sound through your brain. As sound enters your right ear, it's directly routed to the left hemisphere of your brain, which is the area where language, speech, and some aspects of memory are processed. On the other hand, sound entering your left ear has to take a more complex route, first traveling through your right hemisphere and eventually making its way to the left. 

This is why studies show that children listening to information in the right ear can remember what is being said much more efficiently than if the information comes in through the left[9]. 

Research also shows that right ear dominance takes a hit when someone is anxious or depressed. Individuals who have hyper-hearing in the right (or left) ear may be more prone to experience anxiety, depression, obsessive tendencies, etc. Even short-term stress is shown to impact ear dominance, with stress leading to changes in right ear dominance[10]. 

The good news is that research supports the role of auditory training in enhanced neuroplasticity. This means that given the proper auditory stimuli, your brain's connective pathways can improve[11][12]. 

Visual

Your visual system allows you to transform light in your environment into images in your visual field. While this is a system that we often take for granted, your visual awareness can have a profound impact on emotions, memory, comprehension, and balance (due to its connection with the vestibular system)[13][14][15][16].

Research shows that while vision loss can cause anxiety, it's also possible for stress and anxiety to eventually lead to challenges with vision[17][18]. Around 20% to 30% of patients undergoing neurological rehabilitation report defects in their visual field[19].

Other research shows that the status of your visual field can directly impact your quality of life[20].

Therefore, maintaining healthy eyesight and an expanded visual field is not only critical for everyday life, but it can have a significant impact on your emotional state and potentially influence your cognitive capacity. That is why one of the components of BrainVive’s Neuro-Rehab Protocol focuses on visual field expansion.

Limbic System

Your limbic system helps you process and regulate your emotions and memories and assists with motivation and learning[21]. It has a strong connection to your sense of smell, as your olfactory pathways lead directly to the limbic system, as opposed to your other senses, which are sent to your thalamus. This is why specific scents can ignite memories or instigate strong emotional reactions[22].

When there is dysfunction in your limbic system, you can experience problems with memory, emotional disturbances (anxiety, depression, anger), or something called aphasia, which interferes with your ability to speak or understand language[23].

Your limbic system is also intimately tied to your fight-or-flight response due to the role of your amygdala in sympathetic activation. Your amygdala, which is a part of your limbic system, is sensitive to triggers of danger in your environment. When your brain senses that danger may be near, your amygdala jumps into action, releasing stress hormones that instigate your fight-or-flight response[24]. This is why an overactive or out-of-balance limbic system may lead to states of anxiety and overwhelm[25]. As previously stated, anxiety can impact the function of your auditory system, visual system, and vestibular system.



The Power of Sensory Integration

Did you notice that when each of the systems mentioned above was out of balance, anxiety was one of the primary outcomes? This is due to the effect of the fight or flight (stress response) on your nervous system.

Greater integration paves the way for reduced anxiety, increased learning and development, better coordination, enhanced emotional regulation, and so much more.

brainvive's Unique

Integration Program

brainvive's approach to jumpstarting integration and development in the nervous system and neurological functioning centers around the four systems we've been discussing: auditory, visual, vestibular, and limbic.

Instead of focusing on one system individually, we target all four systems simultaneously for optimal integration and neuroplasticity. 

This multi-integration approach is responsible for the incredible results seen in our clients across a myriad of neurological functions.

How exactly do we address and integrate each system? 

Let's explore each in detail.



The Vestibular System

Research shows that enhanced levels of stress and anxiety, stemming from the fight or flight response, are often accompanied by vestibular dysfunction. Balancing the vestibular system is a powerful way to help calm the nervous system and reduce stress[28].

It’s also highly effective in people that have experienced concussions, as the vestibular system often takes a hit with these injuries as evidenced by symptoms such as dizziness, vertigo, and nausea[29][30]. Research shows that engaging in vestibular training as an early intervention post-concussion can result in a reduction in concussive symptoms and can help to speed up recovery[31].

Furthermore, vestibular training has been shown to be an effective strategy for children with ADHD.

Research shows that there is a strong correlation between ADHD and vestibular dysfunction[32]. When children with ADHD receive vestibular training, they show great improvements in cognitive performance[33]. 

Studies also show a strong correlation between vestibular dysfunction and poor school performance.

One study found that 67% of the students struggling with learning issues at school showed vestibular alterations[34].

This likely is due, in part, to the vestibular systems impact on our ability to pay attention. When attention and focus are a challenge, all forms of learning become much more difficult[27]

The good news is that vestibular stimulation can help to enhance attention and focus, and therefore improve learning capacity[34]. 

Along the same lines, research shows that vestibular therapy can improve reading fluency in children with dyslexia[35]. 

As a part of our protocol, we activate the vestibular system for 12 hours (one hour per day). This vestibular input involves crossing the midline of the body, which refers to moving the body across an imaginary line that runs down from your head to your toes. 

Crossing the midline is vital for development of your functional motor skills. Without proper motor skill development individuals may display awkward or imbalanced movements. For children, this could look like requiring additional assistance for handwriting, using scissors, coordination when running or jumping, etc.

The brainvive Neuro-Rehab Protocol vestibular component involves laying on a rotating Trochoidal Motion Table. This facilitates the vestibular input needed for our multi-sensory training. 

Greater integration paves the way for reduced anxiety, increased learning and development, better coordination, enhanced emotional regulation, and so much more.

brainvive's Unique Integration Program

brainvive's approach to jumpstarting integration and development in the nervous system and neurological functioning centers around the four systems we've been discussing: auditory, visual, vestibular, and limbic.

Instead of focusing on one system individually, we target all four systems simultaneously for optimal integration and neuroplasticity. 

This multi-integration approach is responsible for the incredible results seen in our clients across a myriad of neurological functions.

How exactly do we address and integrate each system? 

Let's explore each in detail.