Psychologists look to virtual reality to diagnose, treat visual vertigo
A team of psychologists at the Cardiff University in the UK is working to develop virtual environments to help with diagnosis and rehabilitation of people suffering from visual vertigo.
The psychologists believe using virtual reality has “real potential” to diagnose and treat visual vertigo, a syndrome most often triggered by repetitive visual patterns or rich visual conflict, such as supermarkets, that causes dizziness and nausea.
According to Dr. Georgina Powell of the School of Psychology, there is little known about the causes of visual vertigo at the moment and there is also a lack of effective rehabilitation therapies available. The aim of their project, she said, is to try and understand those two things.
She said vertigo can be extremely debilitating, adding: “It can mean that a patient can’t leave their house because they feel so sick and nauseous every time they walk around in their visual environment.
“They can’t work, they just can’t function.”
The team said one of the most striking observations they had made about sufferers was the variation between what sparks their symptoms.
Dr. Powell noted that all the patients were very different and some environments triggered symptoms for some patients while other environments triggered symptoms for others.
“So by using virtual reality (VR) we can have vast flexibility over the different types of environments that we can show to patients and we can find out what their individual triggers might be and then tailor specific rehabilitation therapies,” she said.
Visual vertigo is often referred to as “supermarket syndrome” because large shops, with their cluttered shelves and repetitive aisles, can act as a catalyst to attacks. Other environments include walking by the side of a river, where you have motion on one side but not on the other, Dr. Powell said.
“Generally they can only handle so much of the virtual reality images at one time – we have a bucket ready,” she added.
“But we give them lots of breaks and lots of water and monitor how they are feeling.”
Often, people with visual vertigo develop vertigo after suffering damage or illness related to their vestibular system – the apparatus of the inner ear involved in balance and space orientation – such as an ear infection. It can also be related to migraines.
Prof.Petroc Sumner, who is overseeing the project, said it can be “very difficult” to rehabilitate.
“There are new patients every month and also repeat patients. So, because it can’t easily be fixed quickly, then the patients have to be seen multiple times – that takes up a lot of NHS time.”
He said the concept had “real potential”, especially as virtual reality becomes cheaper.
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