Pilot Project on External Vestibular Prosthesis in Chronic Subjective Dizziness

A Pilot Project to Investigate the Use of an External Vestibular Prosthesis Potential to Improve Clinical Management of Chronic Subjective Dizziness (CSD)

Researchers are gathering information on the safety and effectiveness of a new device called the BalanceBelt.

Ten consecutive subjects, ages 25-70 years, diagnosed with Chronic Subjective Dizziness (CDS) and ten healthy age and gender matched subjects will be asked to perform tests involving walking and balance while wearing the BalanceBelt. The BalanceBelt is a lightweight belt that will be worn under the clothes around the subjects waist and uses sensitive motion detectors and vibrates against the skin at four locations to provide information about posture and motion.

Subject population: 20 patients with diagnosis of Chronic Subjective Dizziness (CSD) and 10 normal volunteers.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Subjects will be 25-70 years of age inclusive and pregnant women may participate.
• Patients will have CSD as their primary diagnosis for the cause of their balance and dizziness complaints provided by the Behavioral Medicine Program for Dizziness, a division of the Department of Psychiatry & Psychology.
• Normal volunteers will have a negative history of otologic & neurologic disorders and no history of dizziness and balance problems.
• Normal volunteers will have normal findings on a screening office examination for peripheral and central vestibular system involvement (see methods for details of the examination) and screening for normal or symmetrical hearing loss of explainable origin.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with positive indications from testing of peripheral and/or central vestibular system involvement that is felt to be influencing the symptoms reported beyond the CSD alone.
• Patients with mobility restriction that would prevent participating in the tests or the intensive therapy trials.
• Subjects with hearing impairment that interferes with oral communication.