Comparison of Sympathetic Skin Response (SSR) between Electrical and Acoustic Stimuli in a Healthy Pediatric Population

Abstract

Data in the literature report that latency and morphology in the cutaneous sympathetic skin response (SSR) do not change according to the type of stimulus delivered, unlike the amplitude which shows greater values in relation to the intensity of the physical impact caused in patient. Since the acoustic stimulus represents a method better tolerated by the pediatric patient, the aim of this study is to evaluate the presence or absence of significant differences in SSR between electrical and acoustic stimuli. The SSR was performed for each child of 18 recruited in this study, deriving from the palm of the hand and the sole of the foot and initially delivering an electrical stimulus at the level of the median nerve at the wrist. Two acoustic stimuli were subsequently delivered with the aid of audiometric headphones. Our results show no significant differences for the amplitude values obtained (p values > 0.05). For the latency there was a statistically significant difference (p-value = 0.001) for the left hand, subsequently not confirmed by the comparison performed between the two sides (p-values = 0.28 and 0.56). If these preliminary data are confirmed by a larger sample, the acoustic stimulus could be introduced in a standardized protocol for performing SSR in pediatric patients.