This study was selected to receive the VeDA/ANS Travel Award, an honor given to researchers whose work has the potential to significantly improve care for people living with vestibular disorders. The award provides travel support so that early-career scientists and clinicians can present their original research on vestibular patient outcomes at major medical conferences. Thanks to this grant, the research team presented their findings at the American Neurotology Society’s Combined Sections Meeting in April 2026, advancing scientific understanding, sparking collaboration, and elevating the voices of researchers dedicated to improving the lives of patients with vestibular disorders.
Visual Vertigo in Vestibular Migraine
What a New Study Reveals
A new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, takes a closer look at visual vertigo—dizziness or discomfort triggered by movement or complex visual scenes—in people with vestibular migraine (VM). Many patients with VM say that everyday environments like grocery store aisles, crowded sidewalks, scrolling on a computer screen, or action-packed movies can provoke symptoms. This study set out to measure that response in a controlled, repeatable way and compare it with responses from people without vestibular conditions.
How the Study Worked
The research team recruited 17 people with vestibular migraine and 19 healthy control participants. While lying inside an MRI scanner, each participant watched 20 short video clips, each 30 seconds long. These videos featured a wide range of visual motion—from calm, low-motion scenes like snorkeling to fast, visually intense scenes such as biking through city traffic or skydiving. After each clip, participants reported whether they experienced dizziness, headache, nausea, or fogginess, and rated the intensity of each symptom.
The researchers then created a composite score by summing symptom severity across all videos. They also compared these responses to well-known assessments used in dizziness and migraine research, such as the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) and the Visual Vertigo Analogue Scale (VVAS).
What They Found
The results were striking:
- People with vestibular migraine experienced symptoms during the videos much more often, reporting visual vertigo in 71.9% of all responses compared to 13.7% in healthy controls.
- Their composite symptom scores were nearly twice as high as those of the control group.
- Dizziness was the most common response in the VM group, followed by headache and nausea.
- Some videos—particularly those with very fast or complex movement—triggered symptoms in almost all VM participants. For example, the “Skydiving over Mont Blanc” and “Mountain Biking in the Woods” clips provoked symptoms in over 88–94% of those with VM.
- Importantly, higher symptom scores strongly correlated with other measures of VM severity and disability. Among all scales tested, the VVAS aligned most closely with video-provoked symptoms, reinforcing its ability to capture aspects of visual sensitivity highly relevant to VM.
Why This Matters
Visual vertigo is a major challenge for people with vestibular migraine, affecting daily activities, confidence, and quality of life. Yet clinicians have lacked a standardized, objective way to measure how visual motion triggers symptoms.
This study shows that:
- Short, motion-rich videos can reliably provoke symptoms in VM patients.
- These responses reflect real-world challenges patients face.
- Video-based testing could become a valuable tool for diagnosing VM, tracking progress, or tailoring vestibular rehabilitation—especially programs that focus on visual desensitization.
Looking Ahead
While the study had a small sample size and was conducted in the unique environment of an MRI scanner, its findings provide strong support for developing visual-motion–based assessments in vestibular migraine. Future research may help determine the smallest, most effective set of videos needed and how these tools could be used in clinics or telehealth settings.
As understanding of vestibular migraine grows, so does the potential for more personalized and effective treatment strategies—and this study offers a significant step forward.
Source
Visual Vertigo in Vestibular Migraine. Authors: Alexandra T. Bourdillon MD1, Jason W. Allen MD PhD2, Jeremy L. Smith PhD3, Vishwadeep Ahluwalia PhD4, Russell K. Gore MD5, Jeffrey D. Sharon MD1
- Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, University of California – San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
