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Beyond Individual Tests: Building a More Connected Approach to Vestibular and Balance Care

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Beyond Individual Tests: Building a More Connected Approach to Vestibular and Balance Care

August 15
09:21 2026

Shanghai, China – August 15, 2026 – Dizziness, vertigo, and balance disorders can present in many different ways. Some patients experience brief episodes associated with changes in head position, while others report persistent unsteadiness, blurred vision during head movement, impaired postural control, or reduced confidence in daily activities.

These clinical presentations may reflect dysfunction or impaired integration among the vestibular, visual, and somatosensory systems. Understanding the patient’s condition may therefore require vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) assessment, positional testing, oculomotor testing, and balance evaluation rather than reliance on a single examination.

Each type of assessment provides different information. The clinical and operational challenge is to simplify testing workflows while connecting relevant findings across assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation. When test results and clinical observations remain isolated, it becomes more difficult to compare findings, follow changes over time, and use assessment results to guide subsequent care.

This principle is reflected in ZEHNIT Medical Technology’s vestibular and balance portfolio, which supports the clinical pathway from assessment and diagnostic support to treatment and rehabilitation.

Integrating VNG and vHIT in One System

Workflow complexity can become particularly apparent when patients require both video nystagmography (VNG) and video head impulse test (vHIT). These examinations evaluate different aspects of vestibular and oculomotor function.

VNG supports the evaluation of oculomotor function through gaze holding, saccade, smooth pursuit, and optokinetic testing, as well as the assessment of vestibular responses through gaze, positional, and caloric testing. vHIT evaluates the vestibulo-ocular reflex during brief, rapid head impulses and provides information about semicircular canal function.

When VNG and vHIT are performed with separate systems, clinicians may need to switch between systems, refit the goggles, recalibrate, and manage results in different software environments. Combining the two functions within a single system can simplify the workflow, but the equipment needs to meet the distinct technical requirements of both examinations.

VNG depends on clear, high-resolution eye imaging for the observation and analysis of oculomotor and vestibular responses, while high-quality vHIT requires high-speed eye tracking, accurate head movement measurement, and stable goggle positioning during rapid head impulses.

ZEHNIT addressed these combined requirements in VertiGoggles™, a lightweight binocular goggle system that integrates VNG and vHIT. The combined design reduces equipment changes, repeated goggle fitting, and recalibration across related examinations.

Extending VOR Assessment Across Frequency Ranges

Vestibular responses vary across different stimulus frequencies. Caloric testing primarily assesses responses in the ultra-low-frequency range, while vHIT evaluates the VOR during high-frequency head impulses.

Rotary chair testing provides information in the low-to-mid-frequency range, helping to bridge the frequency gap between caloric testing and vHIT. With a motorized rotary chair, the rotation speed, direction, and duration can be precisely controlled, improving the standardization and repeatability of testing. Synchronized eye movement recording allows the resulting VOR responses to be analyzed throughout the rotational stimulus.

Within ZEHNIT’s testing workflow, VertiChair™ delivers controlled rotational stimuli, while VertiGoggles™ records the corresponding eye movements. Considering caloric testing, rotary chair testing, and vHIT findings together can provide a broader view of vestibular function across different frequency ranges than relying on any one examination alone.

Extending Assessment to Otolith Function

Assessment of vestibular function also extends beyond the semicircular canals. The otolith organs contribute to the perception of gravity, linear acceleration, and head orientation, and their function can be evaluated through both subjective and objective approaches.

Subjective visual vertical and horizontal testings provide information about perceived spatial orientation. However, the results of these tests depend on the patient’s visual judgment, understanding of the task, and active response.

The ocular counter roll (OCR) test provides a more objective perspective by evaluating the torsional eye response associated with static head tilt. Accurate OCR analysis requires torsional eye movements to be tracked and their angular response to be quantified.

Three-dimensional eye movement analysis within VertiGoggles™ supports the tracking and analysis of torsional responses during OCR testing. This allows otolith-related ocular responses to be considered together with other vestibular and oculomotor findings. For subjective visual vertical and horizontal testing, ZEHNIT’s VertiSVV™ provides an option for assessing perceived spatial orientation.

From Physiological Responses to Functional Performance

Laboratory measurements of vestibular and oculomotor function do not always show how a disorder affects the patient during daily movement. For example, impaired VOR function may be experienced as visual blurring or oscillopsia when the patient walks or turns the head. Dynamic visual acuity (DVA) testing evaluates the ability to maintain visual clarity during head movement and can identify functional gaze instability that may not be apparent from static visual acuity or physiological VOR measurements alone.

Within the VertiGoggles™ workflow, DVA adds a functional measure of visual stability to other VOR-related examinations, helping relate physiological findings to visual performance during movement.

Postural control is another important aspect of functional assessment. Patients with dizziness or vestibular dysfunction may have difficulty integrating vestibular, visual, and somatosensory information, maintaining stability under changing conditions, shifting their center of gravity, or controlling movement toward the limits of stability.

Quantitative posturography provides a way to evaluate these aspects of balance performance. ZEHNIT’s VertiPlatform™ supports static and dynamic balance assessments such as the modified Clinical Test of Sensory Interaction on Balance, Limits of Stability, and Sensory Organization Test.

Together, DVA and posturography help relate physiological findings to their functional effects on gaze stability and postural control, providing a clearer basis for rehabilitation planning.

From Assessment Findings to Targeted Rehabilitation

For some patients, gaze instability, impaired postural control, and reduced confidence during movement may persist even after the underlying vestibular condition has been treated. These continuing functional problems may indicate a need for targeted rehabilitation.

Reduced dynamic visual acuity or impaired gaze stability may indicate a need for gaze stability exercises, while difficulties with sensory organization, limits of stability, or weight shifting may guide the selection of balance training.

These two areas—gaze stability and balance—form the primary training focus of VertiRehab™. The system uses wearable motion sensing to capture patient movement during interactive exercises. Healthcare professionals can select exercises, adjust training difficulty and modify progression according to the patient’s functional deficits and rehabilitation goals.

VertiPlatform™ can also be used for balance training beyond assessment, using visual feedback and task-based exercises focused on weight shifting, postural control, and movement toward defined targets.

Linking rehabilitation to assessment findings allows training to focus more closely on the limitations identified during testing, while repeated evaluation helps clinicians review changes in performance over time.

Connecting Positional Testing and Treatment in BPPV

The same principle can be seen in condition-specific care, where assessment findings may lead directly to a defined treatment pathway.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) provides a clear example. During positional testing, the direction, duration, and pattern of positional nystagmus help clinicians assess the likely affected canal and select an appropriate canalith repositioning maneuver.

VertiChair™ combines controlled positional testing and canalith repositioning maneuvers with continuous eye movement recording through VertiGoggles™. Programmable movement allows head and body positions to be reproduced consistently while eye movement responses are observed before, during, and after repositioning.

Connecting Data, Analysis, and Reporting

A connected clinical approach also depends on how information is managed across examinations, treatment procedures, and rehabilitation.

Vestibular and balance care can generate eye and head movement data, postural measurements, treatment and rehabilitation records, clinical observations, and reports. When these elements are maintained in isolated workflows, it becomes more difficult to compare findings and follow the patient’s progress over time.

VertiPACS™ serves as the unified operating and data-management platform for ZEHNIT’s compatible products, supporting patient management, device operation, test configuration, data recording, analysis, result review, and report generation.

By bringing different examinations and clinical records into one interface, the software helps maintain continuity from testing and analysis through documentation. Eye and head movement data, postural measurements, treatment and rehabilitation records can be reviewed within the same patient record, making it easier to compare findings and follow changes over time.

Building a More Connected Approach to Care

No single examination can fully describe vestibular and balance function, the patient’s functional limitations, and the support required for recovery.

Different assessments contribute complementary information about vestibular function, gaze stability, postural control, and everyday performance. In some conditions, such as BPPV, the findings may directly inform treatment, while persistent functional problems may indicate a need for targeted rehabilitation.

ZEHNIT’s vestibular and balance portfolio supports this broader pathway across assessment, diagnostic support, treatment, and rehabilitation. Its value lies not in adding more individual tests or devices, but in connecting clinical information across different stages of care and helping clinicians make better-informed decisions.

Moving beyond individual tests therefore means building a clearer relationship between physiological assessment, functional performance, treatment, rehabilitation, and the patient’s progress over time. This broader clinical perspective can help healthcare professionals understand not only the findings of individual examinations, but also how those findings relate to the patient’s functional needs and subsequent care.

About ZEHNIT

ZEHNIT Medical Technology develops innovative equipment and software solutions for the diagnosis and rehabilitation of vestibular and balance disorders. Founded in 2015 by a multidisciplinary team of doctors and engineers, the company is dedicated to advancing clinical assessment technologies and fostering long-term global partnerships in healthcare.

For partnership inquiries or further information, please contact us at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/zehnit-medical-technology

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Company Name: ZEHNIT Medical Technology
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City: Shanghai
Country: China
Website: https://www.zehnit.net