Mark Cuban says a damaged otolith left him dizzy for months and that he developed a home VR protocol to replicate much of what a $180,000 vestibular machine does. He first described his recovery in 2016, but the $180,000 figure and his claim of loaning money to a clinic are newly disclosed and remain unverified. A related continuation patent application naming Cuban and collaborators was filed in May 2024 and is pending, and Cuban is an investor in Otolith Labs, a company building a vertigo wearable.
Mark Cuban Says He Invented Home VR Therapy After Months Of Debilitating Dizziness — Claims It Mimics A $180,000 Clinic Machine
A close-up shot of Mark Cuban_ Image by Joe Seer via Shutterstock_
Mark Cuban posted on Bluesky on Aug. 28 that a damaged otolith left him dizzy for months and that he developed a virtual-reality (VR) protocol to replicate much of what, he says, a $180,000 vestibular machine can do — and that he loaned money to a clinic to help expand access.
How It Started
According to Cuban’s account, the episode began after a long walk in New York on May 20, 2015. He woke the next morning with persistent dizziness and remained symptomatic for months. He was ultimately diagnosed with a damaged otolith — a small structure in the inner ear that contributes to balance — at the Newport-Mesa Audiology Balance and Ear Institute in Southern California and treated by audiologist Howard Mango.
The Treatment And The Workaround
Cuban described therapy involving a rotational chair inside a dark enclosure while cameras tracked his eye movements — a setup he said was uncommon. In 2016 he wrote that there were only about 20 such chairs in the U.S., mostly in veterans’ hospitals. Citing limited availability, he rebuilt the visual component of the protocol on a Samsung Gear VR headset and ran the program at home.
"I had a damaged otolith. I was dizzy for months," Cuban wrote on Bluesky, adding that his VR protocol allowed people to do at home "much of what a 180k machine could do."
Patents, Investments And Transparency
Cuban previously said in 2016 that he and Dr. Mango were "patenting the entire protocol and program." No issued patent has appeared for that protocol, although a continuation patent application — US 2024/0312356 A1, titled "System for the treatment of vestibular dysfunction" and listing Howard Mango, Brooke Pearce, Jennifer Grace and Mark Cuban as inventors — was filed in May 2024 and published in September 2024; its status is pending.
Cuban is also listed as an investor in Otolith Labs, a Washington-based company developing a wearable for vertigo. Otolith Labs raised a $20 million Series A led by Morningside Ventures in September 2022, and Cuban’s public portfolio lists that company. That investment is separate from the VR protocol he describes, but it is relevant when describing his financial exposure to the vestibular-device space.
Unconfirmed Details And Open Questions
Two notable claims in Cuban’s Aug. 28 post are newly emphasized compared with his earlier accounts: the specific $180,000 figure for the clinic machine and the assertion that he loaned money to a clinic so the VR solution could be offered nationally. The earlier 2016 accounts do not include those items, and Cuban has not publicly specified which clinic received a loan, how much was lent, or whether the treatment is available nationwide. These points remain unverified by independent reporting.
Why It Matters
The story forms part of a recurring argument Cuban has made about health-care costs and inefficiencies — that cheaper, consumer-friendly alternatives can reduce reliance on expensive clinic equipment. This iteration is notable because Cuban is both the patient and a promoter of a lower-cost alternative, and he supplied a specific dollar figure that currently appears to rely on his own disclosure.
Disclosure: This revised summary and article are based on Cuban’s public posts and previously published reporting. The claims about the $180,000 machine and the clinic loan come from Cuban’s Aug. 28 Bluesky post and have not been independently verified in available public records.
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