Why do we experience vertigo?

CrowdScience listener Ali wants to know why we experience vertigo.

Anand Jagatia finds out that it’s not just the giddy sensation we feel when we’re at the top of a mountain. Vertigo is also a physical illness that can be triggered by a range of disorders.

He talks to leading experts on balance to learn what causes the condition, discovers how virtual reality can help people with a phobia of being in high places and volunteers to be turned upside down to experience what it feels like to be treated for vertigo.

Contributors:

Peter Rea, consultant ENT surgeon, University Hospitals of Leicester, Honorary Professor of Balance Medicine, De Montfort University, Honorary Professor in Life Sciences, University of Leicester, UK Tammy Barker, clinical scientist, Balance Centre, Leicester Royal Infirmary, UK Rupal Rajani, broadcast journalist and member of Life on the Level Tara Donker, clinical psychologist, Freiburg University, Germany Andrew Hugill, composer, musicologist and deputy director, Institute for Digital Culture, University of Leicester, UK

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Richard Collings Production co-ordinator: Jonathan Harris Sound design: Julian Wharton Studio manager: Bob Nettles

With thanks to Andrew Hugill for permission to include his composition Verdigrade, commissioned by The Space as part of ‘Culture in Quarantine’, BBC.

Image: CrowdScience presenter Anand Jagatia tries out a machine for diagnosing and treating vertigo at Leicester Royal Infirmary Credit: Peter Rea