Benign episodic positional vertigo (BPPV) is a common mechanical disorder of the inner ear that accounts for about 20% of all vertigo and is the cause of about half of all otogenic vertigo. Although it is an otologic disorder, it is often first diagnosed in neurology and is often misdiagnosed as vertebrobasilar artery insufficiency and cervical vertigo, which delays treatment. Now, we would like to summarize the etiology, pathogenesis and treatment of BPPV in order to increase the understanding of this disorder and reduce the misdiagnosis rate. Clinical manifestations: The clinical manifestations of BPPV have 5 characteristics: (1) latency: vertigo appears only after 1-4 seconds of head position change; (2) rotation: vertigo has an obvious sense of rotation, and patients have a sense of their own rotation when they see objects rotating or close their eyes; (3) transience: vertigo stops on its own within less than 1 minute; (4) transition: vertigo can be induced again when the head returns to its original position; (5) fatigue: vertigo is induced several times after head position change. The vertigo symptom will be gradually reduced after several changes of head position.