Project Grant R01DC021938

This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), under the Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders program (CFDA 93.173), is focused on improving the diagnosis and treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and related labyrinth disorders. The $514,546 award will support research across 5 specific aims:

1. Quantifying the inter-subject variance in human membranous labyrinth morphology to enhance the design of canalith repositioning maneuvers (CRMs). 2) Constructing and validating computational and physical models to simulate BPPV, diagnostic tests, and candidate CRMs across diverse labyrinth morphologies. 3) Developing and testing "universal" CRMs robust to morphological variability to clear debris from all 3 ipsilateral canals. 4) Experimentally evaluating head impulse tests (HITs) for differential diagnosis of BPPV subtypes. 5) Determining if short-arm posterior canalithiasis and cupulolithiasis can account for type 2 BPPV characteristics. The research aims to quantify the sensitivity of standard CRMs, assess the utility of HITs for diagnosis, and introduce a robust universal CRM for BPPV.