In our recent webinar, “Help! I’m Dizzy: Navigating the Canadian Healthcare System," audiologist Erica Zaia talks about how a basic understanding of how the balance system works can help you move forward on the road to recovery from a balance and dizziness disorder.

As Erica explains, the balance system is very complex. It is two or three times more complex than hearing or vision. Your brain gets information from inner-ear balance sensors to figure out where you are in space. These tiny sensors are inside the bone behind your ear. They let your brain know your body’s position 24/7. Even when you are sleeping, if someone were to sneak into your bedroom and very slowly and softly pull your bed, your inner ear-sensors would alert your brain that you are being moved.

The inner-ear balance system is constantly sending information up to the brain. But the brain also uses information from your vision, as well as from your skin, muscles and joints. When you feel dizzy, lightheaded, unsteady, or imbalanced, you can be sure that there is a problem with any of these four parts – it is either your inner-ear sensors for balance, or how they are connecting to your vision, the rest of your body, and your brain. And the brain, as headquarters, plays a very important role in all of this.

To learn which health professionals can help you figure out which part of your balance system is malfunctioning, diagnose what is wrong, and come up with a treatment and management plan, view Erica’s talk.