Professional baseball players demonstrate superior dynamic visual acuity and differences in vestibulo-ocular reflex performance, compared to similarly aged healthy controls - Research open access

Q: What was the study’s main purpose?

To compare vestibulo-ocular performance in professional baseball players with that of similarly aged healthy controls, focusing on dynamic visual acuity and vestibulo-ocular reflex behavior.

Q: How did the researchers assess dynamic visual acuity?

They used the computerized dynamic visual acuity (cDVA) test, measuring visual acuity during active head impulses in horizontal and vertical planes compared with a static measure.

Q: What did vHIT measure and what differences were found?

The video head impulse test (vHIT) measured vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain during passive head impulses under typical and high velocity conditions, with professional players showing significantly greater mean differences between high-velocity and typical rotations.

Sep 30, 2026

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Background Baseball-specific movement demands enhanced ocular performance driven by the vestibular system, yet normative vestibulo-ocular data for high-level athletes under game-like conditions remains limited. This comparative cross-sectional study evaluates vestibulo-ocular performance in professional baseball players versus similarly aged healthy controls. Methods computerized dynamic visual acuity (cDVA) and video head impulse testing (vHIT) were used to quantify cDVA thresholds and vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain differences across conditions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Background

Eye-head coordination in baseball

Role of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR)

Knowledge gap in athletes

Filippini et al. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation (2026) 18:15 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-025-01405-x](https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-025-01405-x) BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation RESEARCH Open Access Professional baseball players demonstrate superior dynamic visual acuity and differences in vestibulo-ocular reflex performance, compared to similarly aged healthy controls Tyler Filippini 1, Andy Kittelson 1, Andrew Wagner2, Valerie Moody3, Michael Schubert4 and Brian Loyd 1* Abstract Background Baseball-specific movement paradigms require heightened ocular performance driven by the vestibular system. Normative data of vestibulo-ocular measures for high-level athlete populations is limited in the current literature, particularly under game-like conditions. This comparative cross-sectional study explores the vestibulo-ocular performance of professional baseball players, relative to healthy controls. Methods The computerized dynamic visual acuity (cDVA) test compared visual acuity during active head impulsesin both horizontal and vertical planes relative to a static visual acuity measure. The video head impulse test (vHIT) measured the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain (i. e., ratio of eye velocity to head velocity) of passive horizontal head impulses under typical and high velocity conditions. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) approach was then used to determine the differences between a group of professional baseball players and a similarly aged control group. Results The baseball players had significantly better acuity for each condition: static (p value = 0 . 005), horizontal (p value < . 001), and vertical (p value = 0 . 021) of the cDVA test relative to the healthy controls. Additionally, mean difference in VOR gain between the high velocity and typical velocity head rotations during vHIT testing was significantly greater in the baseball players relative to the healthy controls (p value = 0 . 036) . Conclusion Through years of sport-specific training, professional baseball players are hypothesized to develop improved dynamic visual acuity as characterized by excellent performance in the cDVA test and disconjugate VOR gains across high velocity vHIT and typical velocity vHIT potentially due to greater eye acceleration during the initial milliseconds of a head impulse. Keywords Vestibulo-ocular reflex gain, Dynamic visual acuity, High-velocity head impulse, Professional baseball players *Correspondence: Brian Loyd [brian.loyd@mso.umt.edu](brian.loyd@mso.umt.edu) 1School of Physical Therapy, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA 2Department of Physical Therapy, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA 3School of Integrative Physiology and Athletic Training, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA 4Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Laboratory of Vestibular Neuro Adaptation, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creati](http://creati)[vecommons.org/l](

FAQs

What was the study’s main purpose?

To compare vestibulo-ocular performance in professional baseball players with that of similarly aged healthy controls, focusing on dynamic visual acuity and vestibulo-ocular reflex behavior.

How did the researchers assess dynamic visual acuity?

They used the computerized dynamic visual acuity (cDVA) test, measuring visual acuity during active head impulses in horizontal and vertical planes compared with a static measure.

What did vHIT measure and what differences were found?

The video head impulse test (vHIT) measured vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain during passive head impulses under typical and high velocity conditions, with professional players showing significantly greater mean differences between high-velocity and typical rotations.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by OmBimo