Proposed is a system for daily in-community use that detects the occurrence of FOG and triggers external cueing stimuli to unfreeze the individual. Significance: Parkinson's disease (PD) affects more than one million Americans making it the second-most common neurodegenerative disorder in the US. Its prevalence is expected to double by 2040. More than 30% of all people with PD will develop Freezing of Gait (FOG), a symptom characterized by episodic impairments in the ability to initiate gait and the spontaneous arrest of movement during walking. A curious feature of FOG is that it can be overcome when an external sensory stimulus (cue) is presented. Research has shown that if the cue is exogenously presented, the incidence of FOG events is greatly reduced. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that easy to use, accurate, exogenous queuing in response to FOG events will decrease duration of these events and ultimately lead to improved quality of life.
Specific Aims : In Phase II IDL and its collaborators will: (1) Develop a production ready system, (2) Develop a companion mobile app for the proposed system and refine previously developed FOG detection algorithms, and (3) Validate the proper operation of the system and demonstrate its efficacy through lab and in- community testing.
Parkinson's disease (PD) affects more than one million Americans making it the second-most common neurodegenerative disorder in the US. Parkinson?s Freeze of Gait (FOG) is characterized by episodic impairments in the ability to initiate gait and the spontaneous arrest of movement during walking that rob patients of mobility and independence. For individuals suffering from FOG, symptoms can be mitigated and quality of life improved with accurate exogenously generated acoustic or vibrotactile queues. Of 3T
