Neurophysiologic studies are a valuable technique in the localization and prognosis of the peripheral nerve lesions.

Among the cranial nerves conduction latency changes have been in early detection of the lesion of the facial nerve and in prospect of the prognosis. There is an another cranial nerve which controls the movement of the neck and the shoulders and it can be easily studied outside of the skull; the accessory nerve.

In this study, measurements of the accessory nerves were performed bilaterally in 18 healthy Korean volunteers, 15 males and three females from 23 to 46 years of age.

The mean conduction latency for the accessory nerve was 2.21 msec. (S.D.=0.42) and for the mean conduction distance 7.74 cm (S.D.=1.11) in 36 nerves.