A WIRELESS EMBEDDED TONGUE TACTILE BIOFEEDBACK SYSTEM FOR BALANCE CONTROL

Nicolas Vuillerme (1) , Nicolas Pinsault (1) , Olivier Chenu (1) , Anthony Fleury (1) , Yohan Payan (2) , Jacques Demongeot (1)

1 TIMC-IMAG - Techniques de l'Ingénierie Médicale et de la Complexité - Informatique, Mathématiques et Applications, Grenoble - UMR 5525
2 TIMC-IMAG-GMCAO - Gestes Medico-chirurgicaux Assistés par Ordinateur

We describe the architecture of an original biofeedback system for balance improvement for fall prevention and present results of a feasibility study. The underlying principle of this biofeedback consists of providing supplementary information related to foot sole pressure distribution through a wireless embedded tongue-placed tactile output device. Twelve young healthy adults voluntarily participated in this experiment. They were asked to stand as immobile as possible with their eyes closed in two conditions of nobiofeedback and biofeedback. Centre of foot pressure (CoP) displacements were recorded using a force platform. Results showed reduced CoP displacements in the biofeedback relative to the no-biofeedback condition. On the whole, the present findings evidence the effectiveness of this system in improving postural control on young healthy adults. Further investigations are needed to strengthen the potential clinical value of this device.

Mots clés: Balance; Biofeedback; Tongue Display Unit

Domaines: Neurosciences [q-bio.NC]

Nicolas Vuillerme, Nicolas Pinsault, Olivier Chenu, Anthony Fleury, Yohan Payan, et al.. A WIRELESS EMBEDDED TONGUE TACTILE BIOFEEDBACK SYSTEM FOR BALANCE CONTROL. Pervasive and Mobile Computing, 2008, in press. ⟨10.1016/j.pmcj.2008.04.001⟩. ⟨hal-00278348⟩