Double-tap interaction as an actuation mechanism for on-demand cueing in parkinson’s disease

Freezing of Gait (FoG) is one of the most debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and is an important contributor to falls. When the management of freezing episodes cannot be achieved through medication or surgery, non-pharmacological methods, such as cueing, have emerged as effective techniques, which ameliorates FoG. The use of On-Demand cueing systems (systems that only provide cueing stimuli during a FoG episode) has received attention in recent years. For such systems, the most common method of triggering the onset of cueing stimuli, utilize autonomous real-time FoG detection algorithms. In this article, we assessed the potential of a simple double-tap gesture interaction to trigger the onset of cueing stimuli. The intended purpose of our study was to validate the use of double-tap gesture interaction to facilitate Self-activated On-Demand cueing. We present analyses that assess if PwP can perform a double-tap gesture, if the gesture can be detected using an accelerometer’s embedded gestural interaction recognition function and if the action of performing the gesture aggravates FoG episodes. Our results demonstrate that a double-tap gesture may provide an effective actuation method for triggering On-Demand cueing. This opens up the potential future development of self-activated cueing devices as a method of On-Demand cueing for PwP and others

A technological review of wearable cueing devices addressing freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease

Freezing of gait is one of the most debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and is an important contributor to falls, leading to it being a major cause of hospitalization and nursing home admissions. When the management of freezing episodes cannot be achieved through medication or surgery, non-pharmacological methods such as cueing have received attention in recent years. Novel cueing systems were developed over the last decade and have been evaluated predominantly in laboratory settings. However, to provide benefit to people with Parkinson’s and improve their quality of life, these systems must have the potential to be used at home as a self-administer intervention. This paper aims to provide a technological review of the literature related to wearable cueing systems and it focuses on current auditory, visual and somatosensory cueing systems, which may provide a suitable intervention for use in home-based environments. The paper describes the technical operation and effectiveness of the different cueing systems in overcoming freezing of gait. The “What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)” tool was used to assess the quality of each study described. The paper findings should prove instructive for further researchers looking to enhance the effectiveness of future cueing systems

Methods description.

<p>Methods description.</p

Summary of published works regarding FoG detection algorithms.

<p>Summary of published works regarding FoG detection algorithms.</p

Evaluation method for FoG algorithms.

<p>Evaluation method for FoG algorithms.</p

Clinical characteristics year 2013.

<p>Clinical characteristics year 2013.</p

Summary of literature regarding patients and sensor systems.

<p>Summary of literature regarding patients and sensor systems.</p

Example of training and evaluation data used in the personalised FoG model selection.

<p>Example of training and evaluation data used in the personalised FoG model selection.</p

Set of features employed as input vector for the SVM classifier.

<p>Set of features employed as input vector for the SVM classifier.</p

Results of the proposed SVM-based approach for both generic and personalised models.

<p>Results of the proposed SVM-based approach for both generic and personalised models.</p