Expect to wear goggles that track your eye movements through several sub-tests: following targets, being moved into different positions, and finally caloric testing where warm and cool air or water is placed in each ear. That last part deliberately provokes dizziness.
Expect to wear goggles that track your eye movements through several sub-tests: following targets, being moved into different positions, and finally caloric testing where warm and cool air or water is placed in each ear. That last part deliberately provokes dizziness.
You wear goggles containing a camera that records your eye movements, sometimes in darkness. First come oculomotor tests: following a moving target with your eyes, looking between fixed points, tracking a smoothly moving light. Then positional tests, where the examiner moves your head and body into various positions, including lying back with the head turned, watching for the eye movements that indicate BPPV. Some of these provoke brief dizziness.
This is the part people remember. Warm and then cool air or water is introduced into each ear canal in turn, four irrigations in total. Each deliberately provokes a spinning sensation lasting up to a minute or so, because comparing how each ear responds is what localises the problem. You will be asked to stay alert and answer questions during it, since drifting off suppresses the response. It is unpleasant rather than painful, and you can ask for a pause between irrigations.
Most people settle within minutes of each irrigation, but some remain unsteady or nauseated for a longer period, and there is no way to predict which group you fall into. That is why a driver is arranged in advance rather than decided afterwards. Sit until you feel steady before standing. Bring sunglasses if bright light bothers you. VNG is one of the six studies performed at both CNS offices.
Clinical Neurology Specialists has been physician-owned since 1998, when Leo Germin, M.D., FAANEM founded it. Five board-certified neurologists and four advanced practice providers see patients at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices, each with its own AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratory.
Clinical Neurology Specialists is an adult outpatient neurology practice for patients 18 and older. The practice performs no surgery and operates no imaging suite, infusion suite or interventional pain programme, and provides no emergency or inpatient care.
Physician-reviewed. Reviewed by the physicians of Clinical Neurology Specialists — board-certified neurologists, AANEM-accredited electrodiagnostic laboratories, physician-owned since 1998. Reviewed 1 August 2026. This article is general education for adults 18 and older and is not a substitute for a consultation.
Sources and further reading: MedlinePlus: dizziness and vertigo; MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Adults 18 and older, at the Las Vegas and Henderson offices. Call 702-804-1212 or request an appointment online.