Production of a Device to Obtain Continuous Ambulatory Vestibular Assessment (CAVA) - Dizziness Trial

Dizziness is a common condition that is responsible for a significant degree of material morbidity and burden on our health service. There are multiple causes of dizziness, and these originate from pathologies affecting a large variety of different organ systems. Dizziness is usually episodic and short-lived, so when a patient presents to their health care provider, examination is often normal. As such, diagnosis is challenging and patients often experience significant delay in receiving a diagnosis.

The investigators have developed a prototype device for monitoring dizziness and have tested it in a group of 17 healthy volunteers. The results showed that their device is capable of accurately, precisely and reliably identifying short periods of induced nystagmus (eye movements produced during dizzy attacks) among days' worth of normal eye movement data.

The overall aim of this trial is to test a fully evolved device for the continuous recording of eye movements over a prolonged period of time, on patients suffering from dizziness. For the purpose of this study, the monitoring period is 23 hours a day, for 30 days. The device is composed of two components: a bespoke single-use sensor array that adheres to the participant's face, and a small reusable module that contains a battery, microcomputer, data storage facility, battery and connection port.

The investigators intend to confirm that the device data can be used to identify any occurrence of nystagmus, as produced during attacks of vertigo. Each trial participant will be provided with the device and enough single-use electrode arrays to allow the array to be changed every 24 hours, for thirty days. Participants will be allowed to remove the sensor array for up to 60 minutes each day to allow them to wash and/or shower. If patients experience an episode of dizziness during the trial, they are required to log the details of the event in a trial diary. The identity of these days will not be revealed to the blinded investigator who will later conduct a formal, blinded analysis of the data. At the end of the thirty-day trial, the sensitivity and specificity of the device will be determined by assessing whether the data can be used to correctly identify the dates that participants reported dizziness.