Head-Mounted Vibrotactile Prosthesis for Patients with Chronic Postural Instability

适用于慢性姿势不稳患者的头戴式振动触觉假肢

• 批准号: 9035374
• 负责人: B EUGENE PARKER
• 金额: $ 70.08万
• 依托单位: BARRON ASSOCIATES, INC.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-07-01 至 2018-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9035374
• 关键词: Acceleration; Accelerometer; Activities of Daily Living; Acute; Ankle; Area; Bilateral; Brain; Chronic; Cognitive; Color; Complex; Cues; Data; Development; Devices; Disease; Electronics; Equilibrium; Etiology; Evaluation; Exercise; Feedback; Freedom; Functional disorder; Gait; Generations; Goals; Gravity Perception; Head; Health; Hip region structure; Home environment; Human; Individual; Journals; Lead; Left; Life; Location; Manufactured Baseball; Methods; Motion; Neuraxis; Outcome; Participant; Patients; Peer Review; Performance; Phase; Physical therapy; Pilot Projects; Posture; Process; Prosthesis; Protocols documentation; Published Comment; Publishing; Quality of life; Reaction Time; Rehabilitation therapy; Research; Residual state; Semicircular canal structure; Sensory; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Structure; Surveys; System; Testing; Time; Training; Transducers; Vestibular loss; Visual; Visual system structure; Walking; Weight; Work; balance prosthesis; base; computerized; cost; design; disability; equilibration disorder; ergonomics; expectation; falls; human subject; improved; instrument; novel; otoconia; phase 1 study; prototype; sensor; sensory system; somatosensory; usability; vibrotactile prosthesis

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent advances in the size and performance of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)-based inertial instruments enable the development of a novel balance prosthesis to provide feedback via a substitute sensory channel regarding head orientation to patients with chronic balance dysfunction. There is a need for balance prostheses to assist patients with chronic balance disorders, as well as for devices to facilitate rehabilitaton of such disorders through training and physical therapy. The noninvasive, discreet, turnkey BALCAP prosthesis proposed herein offers the potential to satisfy both requirements in a practicable and ergonomic fashion. The BALCAP prosthesis uses six degrees-of-freedom (6- DOF) sensing to detect postural imbalance and actuate low-amplitude vibrotactile cues directly to the head via hatband tactors that provide the wearer with feedback concerning head tilt in the pitch and roll planes (and combinations thereof). The BALCAP is designed to function correctly whether or not the participant is stationary or moving. The Phase I effort demonstrated initial feasibility for both the assistive and rehabilitative benefits of the BALCAP prosthesis. As part of the proposed research, the utility of an improved BALCAP balance prosthesis will be further evaluated in an expanded study on individuals with chronic balance dysfunction spanning a range of etiologies. Participants will undergo postural stability and gait assessments to evaluate two distinct hypotheses: (1) that performance scores improve significantly while wearing the BALCAP balance prosthesis ("assistive benefit") and; (2) that performance scores improve after a period of BALCAP-assisted therapy vs. standard therapy, even when the BALCAP is not being worn ("rehabilitative benefit"). A head-mounted vibrotactile prosthesis, such as the proposed BALCAP, will provide immediate benefit to a large number of patients with chronic postural instability. Additionally, the device has the potential to open new areas of research, such as determining the optimal training protocol to maximize residual retention of balance improvements. The availability of a practical, one-piece, noninvasive, discreet, and low-cost balance prosthesis will enhance the quality of life for balance-disordered patients and could lead to further advancements in this area.

描述（由申请人提供）：基于微电动机电系统（MEMS）基于惯性仪器的大小和性能的最新进展，使新的平衡假体能够通过替代感觉渠道提供反馈，从而提供有关慢性平衡功能障碍患者的头部方向的反馈。需要平衡假肢来帮助患有慢性平衡疾病的患者，以及通过培训和物理疗法来促进此类疾病的修复的设备。 本文提出的无创，谨慎，turnkey balcap假体提供了以可行和人体工程学的方式满足这两种要求的潜力。 BALCAP假体使用六个自由度（6-DOF）感应来检测姿势失衡，并通过Hatband Tactors直接向头部直接启动低振幅颤振曲折提示，从而为佩戴者提供有关在球场和滚动平面（以及组合）中倾斜的反馈。 BALCAP旨在正确运行，无论参与者是否固定或移动。 第一阶段的努力证明了Balcap假体的辅助和康复益处的最初可行性。作为 拟议的研究，即改进的BALCAP平衡假体的实用性将在扩展的研究中对跨越一系列病因的慢性平衡功能障碍的个体进行了进一步评估。参与者将经历姿势稳定和步态评估，以评估两个不同的假设：（1）佩戴BALCAP平衡假体（“辅助利益”）时，性能得分显着提高，并且； （2）即使没有穿BALCAP，BALCAP辅助治疗与标准疗法的一段时间后，性能得分也有所提高（“康复益处”）。 诸如拟议的BALCAP之类的头部载体纤维骨架假体将为许多慢性姿势不稳定患者提供直接的好处。此外，该设备有可能开放新的研究领域，例如确定最佳培训方案以最大程度地提高余额改进的剩余保留。实用，单件，无创，谨慎和低成本平衡假体的可用性将提高平衡疾病患者的生活质量，并可能导致该领域的进一步进步。