EARABLES
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A non-interventional, investigation into the relationship between head and whole-body movements in participants with and without balance disorders
IRAS ID
320031
Contact name
Thomas Stone
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Balance and gait are affected by many inner ear, neurological and joint conditions. This makes them an interesting proposition for diagnostic methods, however accurate ways of measuring balance and disordered gait are not widely available to clinicians. Many methods of measuring movement are inaccessible to the majority of patients and certainly not scalable to enable all patients to access them equitably.
Manufacturers of hearing aids are currently looking at research using accelerometers in their devices. This could provide a practical solution to measuring gait and balance outside the lab, however it remains to find a way to usefully interpret the wealth of data that stands to be generated.
The main goal of this project is to develop a model that relates head movement to body movement. This presents multiple challenges, as the head is of course not fixed stiffly to the torso, and often moves independently, i.e. swivelling to track sounds or moving visual targets. This also means that not all body movements get transmitted to the head. One possibility we will consider looking at is to use gaze tracking (i.e. what the head and eyes are looking at) to tease apart active intended head movements from those generated automatically by gait or posture adjustments, or by unexpected disturbances such as near falls, tripping, joints giving way etc.
By describing how whole-body movements correlates with head-centred movements we eventually stand to:
(i) develop a diagnostic tool for early detection of neurological, vestibular and joint disorders
(ii) Provide a predictive tool for those a risk of falls, or need additional balance aids for safety and mobility.
(iii) Provide a monitoring tool for measuring effectiveness of therapy
(iv) Provide mechanisms for head gesture control of other devices, for instance switching listening modes on hearing aids.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EM/0145
Date of REC Opinion
24 Jul 2023
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion