{"id":3650,"date":"2020-10-15T13:37:45","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T20:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/vestibular-care-makes-headway-at-usc\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:32:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:32:35","slug":"vestibular-care-makes-headway-at-usc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/vestibular-care-makes-headway-at-usc\/","title":{"rendered":"Vestibular care makes headway at USC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Press Release<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Vestibular care makes headway at USC<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n \n October 15, 2020<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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(Photo\/Alaina Bassett)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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By Diane Krieger<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A spinning chair equipped with head straps, recording goggles and seatbelt. An overhead screen displaying magnified images of your eyes, responding in real-time to stimuli. Other goggles to measure activity in the five balance organs or to record the inner ear\u2019s reaction to subtle changes in water temperature. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alaina Bassett, AuD, PhD<\/a>, is the gatekeeper to these and other technology-driven diagnostic tools used in the assessment of vestibular disorders, a dizzying array of conditions affecting balance in some 33 million Americans \u00a0a year. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bassett heads up the <\/span>USC Balance Center<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

First launched in 2018, with Bassett as founding director, the center conducts up to a dozen patient evaluations a week.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an audiologist with a background in vestibular assessment and balance function,\u201d says Bassett, a clinical assistant professor in the USC Caruso Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. \u201cMy job is to manage and help patients with symptoms of dizziness and unsteadiness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes Keck Medicine of USC\u2019s balance center unique is its approach.\u00a0After each assessment, Bassett assembles the multidisciplinary\u00a0team to tackle that patient\u2019s case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTypically patients with dizziness have already seen three or four doctors before coming to me,\u201d Bassett says. \u201cThey\u2019re tired of being pushed around. So we really want to make sure we\u2019re able to triage effectively \u2014 where they can walk out of here feeling good about themselves.\u201d<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVestibular dysfunction is complicated. There are more than 25 common causes of balance disorders, ranging from pharmacotoxicity to head trauma, from inherited conditions such as M\u00e9ni\u00e8re\u2019s disease to complications related to aging, autoimmune disease or allergies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because balance affects people across the lifespan, Bassett sees patients \u201cfrom 4-year-old children to the very oldest senior citizens.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the USC Balance Center is brimming with state-of-the-art equipment, Bassett also relies on \u201cold school\u201d strategies. Her detective work begins in the waiting room.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m evaluating your balance system as soon as I see you,\u201d she says. \u201cAre you using a cane? Have your glasses slid down the bridge of your nose? Are they crooked? Are they bifocals? I\u2019m always watching, observing and, above all, listening \u2014 because people are very good historians. They\u2019ll mention things about their personal or professional lives that can be really important.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bassett devotes time to educating patients. She introduces them to the labyrinth, a maze-like structure of bone and soft tissue within the inner ear. She\u2019ll explain how the five vestibular organs on each side of the head interact with the brain, the eyes and other body systems, right down to the muscles and touch sensors in the legs and feet. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI ask many questions and make patients repeat things, just to double-check, because it can really help us make the right decisions for them moving forward.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She then proceeds to put patients\u2019 balance organs through their paces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a full-service experience,\u201d she says of the workup.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Balance Assessment Primer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Patients visiting the Balance Center get a two-hour evaluation involving a series of eye movement tasks, head movement tasks and other specialized tests focused on all five balance organs.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what to expect:<\/p>\n

Videonystagmography<\/strong> is a basic vestibular assessment that allows Bassett to observe, record and play back a patient\u2019s ocular movements under different stimuli. VNG is the frontline tool in detecting nystagmus, a class of vision disorders causing the eyes to make repetitive, uncontrolled motions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

VEMP<\/strong>, short for vestibular evoked myogenic potentials, is an electrophysiology assessment tracking how specific balance organs respond to sound stimulation.<\/p>\n

vHIT<\/strong>, short for video head impulse testing, measures peripheral balance deficits. Goggles worn by the patient during this assessment let Bassett accurately measure the function of all six vestibular canals while she manually applies quick turns to the patient\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

In rotational chair testing<\/strong> \u2014 or what Bassett, to the delight of her younger patients, calls \u201cthe spinning tea cup\u201d \u2014 the patient revolves at a speed of 180 degrees per second \u00a0in pitch darkness, strapped in and wearing goggles. This test distinguishes between dizziness caused by disorders of the inner ear and those of the brain. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Because it often induces feelings of motion-sickness in patients, Bassett saves the caloric test<\/strong> for last. By placing warm and cool water in the patient\u2019s ear canal, she can use this test to map the responsiveness and symmetry of a patient\u2019s peripheral vestibular systems.\u00a0<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":3651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16,78],"class_list":["post-3650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","tag-otolaryngology","tag-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVestibular care makes headway at USC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/vestibular-care-makes-headway-at-usc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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