Background: Visually induced dizziness can develop as a sequala of a vestibular disorder and is characterized by symptoms of nausea, dizziness, and imbalance in rich visual environments such as supermarkets and shopping malls. To date the mechanisms underlying visually induced dizziness are poorly understood.
Research question: What are the characteristics of visual fixations and postural sway in adults with visually induced dizziness compared to healthy adults when exposed to increasingly complex visual environments?
Methods: We recruited 20 adults with visually induced dizziness and 20 healthy adults to this cross-sectional exploratory study. Participants were instructed to maintain gaze on letters projected on a large screen with backgrounds of differing visual complexity. The number of visual refixations, movement of the centre of pressure, and movement of the head and body centres of mass were recorded.
Results: Adults with visually induced dizziness showed a significantly higher number of visual refixations (F= 10.592, p < 0.01), and increased mean velocity of head and body centres of mass movement (F= 14.034, p < 0.01 and F= 6.553, p < 0.05 respectively) compared to healthy adults.
Significance: Adults with visually induced dizziness exhibited visual fixational instability and increased postural and head sway compared to healthy adults. This was mainly observed in conditions with complex and moving backgrounds. This may account for reports from adults with visually induced dizziness of worsening symptoms in busy environments. The results from the study may assist in guiding intervention development to reduce symptoms of visually induced dizziness.
Keywords: Complex environments; Dizziness; Eye tracking; Postural control; Vestibular disorder; Visual fixations; Visually induced dizziness.
Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.