Vestibular Testing

What is Vestibular Testing?

Vestibular testing is a series of tests used to evaluate your balance system, which depends on information from many different parts of the body sending information to be processed in the brain. Our team works to assess how the eyes, ears, and muscles work together to make sense of balance information. Otolaryngology and audiology providers evaluate how the ears may contribute to a patient’s balance problem.

Common Conditions for Vestibular Testing

Vestibular testing may help in diagnosing a variety of balance disorders including, but not limited to:

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)
Vestibular neuritis
Labyrinthitis
Superior canal dehiscence
Ménière's disease
Cerebellar ataxia
Cervicogenic dizziness
Head trauma/post-concussion syndrome
Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome
Vestibular migraine
Motion sickness and mal de débarquement syndrome

UR Medicine's Approach

To begin your evaluation, your UR Medicine provider may ask some important questions about your dizziness or imbalance:

What do you feel when you get your symptoms (e.g.: room-spinning, unsteadiness, swaying)?
How long do your symptoms last? How often do your symptoms occur?
Are there other symptoms that go along with your dizziness or imbalance (e.g.: headache, changes in hearing, nausea, panic)?
Describe what seems to cause your symptoms and what relieves your symptoms.
When did your symptoms begin? Were there any other health events around the time your symptoms began (e.g.: flu-like symptoms, head trauma, medication changes)?
Do you have any other long-term health conditions? Do you have any hearing loss or other concerns with your ears?

Types of Vestibular Tests

Tests may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Videonystagmography assesses visual and vestibular control of eye movements. During this test, you will wear goggles that track eye movements while you follow a target on a screen, or while in different body positions.

Vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) is a test in which sensors are placed on the skin and a repeated sound is presented to the ears. You would be asked to lift your head or look in particular directions. This test is useful in determining if each ear responds to balance information in an equal way. It is also useful for screening for structural abnormalities in the balance parts of the inner ear.

Video Head Impulse Tests (vHIT) allow a provider to see how the balance system responds to quick head movements. You would wear a set of goggles to track eye movements while your provider moves your head in quick side-to-side or angled movements.

Modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction in Balance (MCTSIB) requires you to stand in various conditions with eyes open or closed on firm and soft surfaces. This screener allows your provider to see how the eyes, ears, and muscles work together to keep you upright.

Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP) is a test in which you stand on a forceplate or platform, and a computer measures balance responses from the eyes, ears, and muscles working together to keep you upright.

Management and Treatment of Balance Disorders

Balance disorders can be complex. However, once the cause of your balance problem is understood, management and therapy can improve symptoms. Treatments may include:

specific maneuvers of the head performed by your provider
vestibular physical therapy
surgical procedures
medication
a combination of the above

What Sets Us Apart?

Our mission is to provide the highest level of care for patients with vestibular disorders.

Vestibular testing, hearing evaluations, clinical consultation with ear, nose, and throat (ENT) providers, and vestibular physical therapy are available at the same convenient location.

Our outpatient clinic offers the most up-to-date, evidence-based evaluation, treatment, and management approaches. Our providers are sought for their expertise in rare and complex hearing and balance issues. Many of our providers are also leaders in research that focuses on the vestibular system.

UR Medicine ENT providers are trained in surgical and non-surgical treatment of diseases of the ears, nose, throat, head, and neck. Our specialists perform hundreds of procedures and surgeries every year, so patient care is always in the hands of well-practiced experts.

All our physicians are board certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology. All of our audiologists hold Certification of Clinical Competency in Audiology from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.