In the spring, Bre Myers, AuD ‘06, PhD ‘17, CH-AP, had taken her daughter to Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom amusement park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It had been years since she had been at an amusement park and it occurred to Dr. Myers experiencing the rides as an adult is less about the thrill and more about not getting nauseous.
That’s where the teacher’s instinct took over.
“I was watching my daughter on all of these rides and because I teach vestibular sciences, I realized that amusement parks are essentially built for your vestibular systems,” said Dr. Myers, assistant dean for the Foundations and Assessment of Audiologic Medicine in the University’s Osborne College of Audiology (OCA). “This would be a good thinking exercise for my current students, who are just learning about how the vestibular system detects different types of motion and different causes of dizziness.”
The vestibular system is a tiny part of the inner ear that is responsible for detecting motion and is essential in our perception of balance. It connects to many different areas in the brain and works together with vision to keep us stable. This is also the portion of the ear that can contribute to feelings of dizziness if it is damaged.
According to Dr. Myers, a lot of amusement park rides excite the vestibular system in very specific ways.
“Some people can’t ride the teacups amusement ride, because of all the spinning,” she said. “But they can ride fast rollercoasters with no ill effects. Those are two different types of movement and acceleration that affect the vestibular system differently.”
This sparked an idea – take her students to an amusement park and have them report on how they felt after riding the rides.
“Students were encouraged to watch or ride a variety of attractions to experience the different types of motions,” she said. “I wanted them to feel the difference and hopefully gain a deeper understanding of how the vestibular contributed. Which ones were you OK with, which ones made you feel nauseous? We then talked about acceleration and motion. Which rides did more of what? Which rides made your symptoms worse?”
Dr. Myers said rollercoasters, for example, can affect our limbic system or our emotional response in addition to our vestibular system.
“There are some rides a person simply will not go on because of fear or anxiety. How does that relate to our balance system?” she said. “There is a really deep connection between anxiety and dizziness. Vertigo and dizziness can trigger so much more in our limbic (emotional) response center than we may initially think.”
One goal of the experience was to give the students an insight into what some of their patients might be going through when they’re experiencing dizziness or imbalance. A second goal was to have them be able to recognize different types of acceleration and relate it to the specific structures responsible for detecting it.
Seven audiology students went on the optional field trip to Dorney Park the last weekend in September. For those who chose not to go, Dr, Myers offered an alternative where students could watch point-of-view videos on the different types of amusement park rides on YouTube. The students now have until November to write reflection papers on the experience.
Dr. Myers is gathering pre-activity and post-activity data from the students to report about the experience.
“Ultimately if this activity helped students think outside the box, and to give them a deeper understanding of these concepts, while having fun, I would call it a success,” said Dr. Myers. “The initial feedback from those that participated has been positive.”
