Subjective visual vertical imprecision during lateral head tilt in patients with chronic dizziness

Most prior studies of the subjective visual vertical (SVV) focus on inaccuracy of subjects' SVV responses with the head in an upright position. Here we investigated SVV imprecision during lateral head tilt in patients with chronic dizziness compared to healthy controls. Forty-five dizzy patients and 45 healthy controls underwent SVV testing wearing virtual reality (VR) goggles, sitting upright (0°) and during head tilt in the roll plane (± 30°). Ten trials were completed in each of three static head positions. The SVV inaccuracy and SVV imprecision were analyzed and compared between groups, along with systematic errors during head tilt, i.e., A-effect and E-effect (E-effect is a typical SVV response during head tilts of ± 30°). The SVV imprecision was found to be affected by head position (upright/right head tilt/left head tilt, p < 0.001) and underlying dizziness (dizzy patients/healthy controls, p = 0.005). The SVV imprecision during left head tilt was greater in dizzy patients compared to healthy controls (p = 0.04). With right head tilt, there was a trend towards greater SVV imprecision in dizzy patients (p = 0.08). Dizzy patients were more likely to have bilateral (6.7%) or unilateral (22.2%) A-effect during lateral head tilt than healthy controls (bilateral (0%) or unilateral (6.7%) A-effect, p < 0.01). Greater SVV imprecision in chronically dizzy patients during head tilts may be attributable to increased noise of vestibular sensory afferents or disturbances of multisensory integration. Our findings suggest that SVV imprecision may be a useful clinical parameter of underlying dizziness measurable with bedside SVV testing in VR.