What is the “vestibular system”?
The vestibular system is your balance center, which is housed in your inner ear. It has nothing to do with your hearing. Its two main purposes are to help you sense your position in space and to help your eyes stay stable with head motion. If you have a weakness in your vestibular system you may experience vertigo, imbalance or blurred vision.
The word vestibule means connecting passages or chambers. Vestibular system is the term used to collectively describe the chambers and tubes connecting the component parts of the middle and inner ear and the Eustachian tube connecting the middle ear to the pharyngeal cavity, that is responsible for equalizing pressure of the tympanic cavity with ambient pressure of the outer ear. Sensory pressure receptors in the vestibular system send messages to the central nervous system that, processed in concert with signals from other receptors (such as those constituting sight), are interpreted as the sense of equilibrium or of disequilibrium. Dysfunctions in the vestibular system result in incorrect or unfamiliar signals being transmitted to the nervous system about the state of equilibrium of the body.
