A biofeedback-based smart walking aid for patients with cognitive impairments

Dementia is the most common form of cognitive impairment, affecting 55 million people worldwide. This neurodegenerative disorder, progressing from mild to severe stages, leads to significant deficits in everyday life tasks, with patients losing their ability to independently carry out daily activities. In recent years, the development of assistive mobility aids has become increasingly prevalent. This thesis aimed to integrate a multimodal software interface into a Smart Walker designed to assist users in navigating unfamiliar environments, employing various forms of feedback. 12 volunteers with no physical or cognitive impairments, with ages between 20 and 46, were recruited for the study. They were asked to navigate predefined routes using directional cues provided by the SW. The first three experiments involved single feedback modalities (i.e., LEDs, vibration, tablet), while the fourth experiment combined feedback (i.e., LEDs+tablet or vibration+tablet) based on user preference. After the experiments, participants completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions of the intuitiveness, stress, and comfort of the feedback cues, as well as their interaction with the environment. The questionnaire results indicated that all three feedback modalities were intuitive, vibration and LEDs made interaction with the environment easier and were perceived as more comfortable, however, all three modalities were considered stressful by the users. Half of the participants felt they performed better with combined feedback. Statistical analyses conducted on the collected data revealed statistically significant differences between LEDs and vibration, as well as between the tablet and vibration. These findings suggest that users understood and responded differently to each feedback modality. Future studies should aim at testing a larger pool of participants aged 50 and older. The second stage of research would be testing patients at high risk of developing cognitive impairments.