Device combats common cause of vertigo | Reuters

So-called "benign paroxysmal positional vertigo" (BPPV) affects roughly 10 percent of the population over age 60, according to studies done in the late 1980s. It is characterized by intense vertigo (room spinning), which often occurs when looking up, rolling over in bed, or bending under things.

BPPV results from the build-up of crystals in the inner ear. Doctors typically treat BPPV with a physical maneuver to shift the crystals out of a canal in the inner ear where they cause the feeling of dizziness.

The so-called "Epley" maneuver is fairly simple and highly effective -- but difficult for patients to remember how to do on their own. So Dr. Matthew Bromwich and colleagues at Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Canada developed a device to help them.