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Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate brain activity during current visual and auditory tasks for balance control. The participants will perform cognitive, gait, and balance measures before the data collection to exclude people with neurological disorders. The participants will wear VR headset which provides visual tasks. The participants will need to maintain balance while performing concurrent visual and auditory tasks. The brain activities, reaction time, and eye-tracking data will be collected during doing our experimental tasks.

Conditions

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Between 25 Years and 85 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Inclusion Criteria

  • must not have any vestibular, orthopedic or neurological disorders, knee or hip replacements, reports of dizziness, low visual acuity (corrective vision less than 20/40) or require the use of an assistive device for ambulation. - Right-handed

Exclusion Criteria

  • Healthy group: have a low fall risk profile based on current available clinical balance and gait assessment tools, such as the MiniBEST and STEADI fall risk self-assessment tool and normal cognitive status using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA > 26/30) - Fall risk group: other medical issues rather than balance problems

Study Design

Phase
Study Type
Observational
Observational Model
Case-Control
Time Perspective
Prospective

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Healthy Younger Adults Healthy younger adults without any neurological and orthopedic disorders.
  • Other: Optic Flow Stimulation
    The optic flow will be displayed at different speeds. The subject will need to look at the center of the optic flow.
  • Other: Auditory Reaction Time
    Two different pitches of tones will be played. The participants will need to press a button on the right or left hand based on the pitch of the tone.
Healthy Older Adults Healthy older adults without any neurological and orthopedic disorders.
  • Other: Optic Flow Stimulation
    The optic flow will be displayed at different speeds. The subject will need to look at the center of the optic flow.
  • Other: Auditory Reaction Time
    Two different pitches of tones will be played. The participants will need to press a button on the right or left hand based on the pitch of the tone.
Older Adults with higher risk of falls Older adults with a history of falls or poor balance based on the clinical balance and gait assessment.
  • Other: Optic Flow Stimulation
    The optic flow will be displayed at different speeds. The subject will need to look at the center of the optic flow.
  • Other: Auditory Reaction Time
    Two different pitches of tones will be played. The participants will need to press a button on the right or left hand based on the pitch of the tone.

Recruiting Locations

East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina 27834
Contact:
Chiacheng Lin, PhD
252-744-6231
linch14@ecu.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Chia-Cheng Lin, PhD, PT, MSPT

Study Contact

Brian Sylcott, PhD
252-737-4652
sylcottb15@ecu.edu

Detailed Description

Virtual reality (VR), defined as an interactive system including computers and media peripherals, creates an environment similar to a real-world and also provides audio and video feedback to users. Recently, the virtual reality technology is able to make a headset displaying 360 degrees VR environment and locate the headset in the space. This improvement of VR technology significantly reduces the cost of VR equipment and enhances the application of VR technology in the field of balance assessment and treatment. Optic flow (OF) has been used to study the effect of visual input on balance control. Most of the studies displayed OF on a screen rather than using 360 degrees visual field environment. Therefore, the subjects could obtain reference inputs for balance adjustment. The new VR headset makes it possible to play OF in a 360-degree visual field in which the subject will not able to obtain any reference inputs rather than using somatosensory and/or vestibular systems. It is unclear how the effect of aging and attention relocation affects postural control with concurrent visual and auditory attention tasks. In this study, fNIRS will be used to detect the brain activity of healthy adults in the prefrontal and temporal-parietal junction as they complete concurrent cognitive and visual tasks displayed by a VR headset. This work will focus on age and test positions (sitting vs standing). As age can play a role in brain activation levels, the investigators will compare results among younger adults (25-35 years), older adults (65-85 years), and older adults with the risk of falls. All the subjects will undergo concurrent auditory reaction time tasks and visual tracking tasks. The investigators will compare the brain images from the test conditions between the age groups and investigate if brain activity differs during the performance of reaction time tasks and visual tacking tasks. The goal of this study is to examine the effect of concurrent visual and auditory tasks on brain activation and postural control.

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.