Standardizing head movements in gait assessment through augmented reality, a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background

Head movements challenge human balance during locomotion, but their exact impact remains unclear due to non-standardized experimental setups. This study validates an augmented reality (AR) cueing setup for head movements during gait assessment, investigating its task performance accuracy, hardware impact, ability for standardization and the effects of head movements on gait.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 25 healthy adults underwent a 3D-motion capture gait protocol. Participants walked overground under three conditions: 1) auditory-cued head turns wearing a headband, 2) auditory-cued head turns wearing an AR head mounted display (AR-HMD), 3) AR-cued (hologram) head turns wearing AR-HMD. Head kinematics (angles and velocity) and eye movements were recorded during horizontal and vertical head movements. Task performance accuracy was measured as the coherency (gain,%) in head and eye with the hologram. Hardware impact on head kinematics was assessed using linear mixed models. Standardization of an AR-HMD versus traditional auditory cueing was measured by head kinematics variance and kinematic profiles.

Results

Task performance accuracy was high (eyes-hologram: 99.5 ± 0.8 %; head-hologram 98.8 ± 1.6 %). Hardware impacted angular head velocity (p < 0.001) but not range of motion (p = 0.700). Standardization of the head movement was better in AR with lower variances in kinematic profiles, standard deviations (p < 0.05) and coefficients of variance (p > 0.05) compared to auditory cueing.

Conclusion

In conclusion, an AR-HMD setup elicits more standardized head movements shown by lower variance in head kinematics with excellent task performance accuracy. This offers a proof of concept for AR elicited head movements as a method in gait assessment in healthy individuals.