Vestibular Function Testing
VOG – Video Oculography.
This test measures eye (ocular) movements. This provides valuable information about reflex pathways and coordination among different parts of the brain to maintain balance. A special goggle is placed over your eyes that has an inbuilt camera to track your eye movements.
Video Head-Impluse Testing (vHITs)
You will be fitted with a pair of lightweight and tightly-fitting goggles with a silvered mirror which reflects the image of your eye into a very small camera. You will be asked to fixate on a target while the technician gives your head quick horizontal and vertical head rotations at a very small angle of only 10-20 degrees. The small sensor in the googles measures your head and eye movements. This test is used in the assessment of patients with complaints of dizziness, disequilibrium and vertigo. Please advise if you have had neck surgery, or if there is significant neck pain. You may stop the test at any time if you are not comfortable. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: Please DO NOT wear any eye makeup ESPECIALLY MASCARA for this test.
Vestibular evoked potentials (VEMP)
These tests measure the responses from the gravity-sensing organs in the inner ear. Electrodes are placed under your eyes, and on either side of the neck. Light taps are given with a rubber tendon hammer which activates these organs, and the computer records the response. Ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential studies (OVEMPs) are a novel technique which add to the information forthcoming from cervical VEMP studies (cVEMPs) by assessing lesions affecting the otoliths, superior vestibular nerves, 4th cranial nerves and their intrinsic brainstem connections.
