Current status of electronystagmography testing

Abstract

ENG testing, whether computerized or not, remains the most useful means of assessing the vestibular system. The caloric test provides invaluable site-of-lesion information that objectively documents a peripheral vestibular lesion. Double (bithermal) caloric irrigation of each ear provides a more thorough and wider range test of inner ear function than a single caloric irrigation because the vestibular system is both excited and inhibited, causing responses in opposite directions, which are important in evaluating patients with underlying spontaneous nystagmus. In an age in which economically efficient and clinically effective diagnostic methods are in high demand, ENG testing remains the gold standard of vestibular function tests.