Cell phone based balance trainer
In their current laboratory-based form, existing vibrotactile sensory substitution technologies that provide cues of body motion are impractical for home-based rehabilitation use due to their size, weight, complexity, calibration procedures, cost, and fragility.
Methods: We have designed and developed a cell phone based vibrotactile feedback system for potential use in balance rehabilitation training in clinical and home environments.
It comprises an iPhone with an embedded tri-axial linear accelerometer, custom software to estimate trunk tilt, a "tactor bud"accessory that plugs into the headphone jack to provide vibrotactile cues of trunk tilt, a small external controller to translate the audio signals from the iPhone into vibrotactile cues, and a battery. Five young healthy subjects (24+/-2.8 yrs, 3 females and 2 males) and four subjects with vestibular involvement (42.25+/-13.5 yrs, 2 females and 2 males) participated in a proof-of-concept study to evaluate the effectiveness of the system.
Healthy subjects used the system with eyes closed during Romberg, semi-tandem Romberg, and tandem Romberg stances. Subjects with vestibular involvement used the system with both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions during semi-tandem Romberg stance.
Vibrotactile feedback was provided when the subject exceeded either an anterior-posterior (A/P) or a medial-lateral (M/L) trunk sway threshold. Subjects were instructed to move away from the vibration.
Results: The system was capable of providing real-time vibrotactile cues that informed corrective trunk tilt responses. When feedback was available, both healthy subjects and those with vestibular involvement significantly reduced their A/P or M/L RMS trunk sway (depending on the direction of feedback), had significantly smaller elliptical area fits to their sway trajectory, spent a significantly greater mean percentage time within the no feedback zone, and showed a significantly greater A/P or M/L mean power frequency.
Conclusion: The results suggest users can use the real-time feedback provided by this system to reduce their trunk sway. Its advantages over more complex laboratory-based and commercial balance training systems in terms of cost, size, weight, functionality, flexibility, and accessibility make it a good candidate for further home-based balance training evaluation.
Author: Beom-Chan LeeJeonghee KimShu ChenKathleen H Sienko
Credits/Source: Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation 2012, 9:10
Published on: 2012-02-08
Copyright by the authors listed above - made available via BioMedCentral (Open Access). Please
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