CuePD: Investigating the Effect of Personalised Auditory Cueing on Gait in Parkinson's Disease

Summary

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a major cause of disability, globally. PD affects a person's movement speed, fluency, quality, and ease of walking. PD has the fastest-growing incidence rate, with its prevalence expected to double over the next three decades, currently affecting 10 million people worldwide. PD often leads to disturbances in walking/gait characteristics such as abnormal/variable stride lengths and step times. Those disturbances increase the risk of falls, with about 39% of people with PD (PwPD) experiencing an average of 20.8 falls/year.

Research has examined cueing by leveraging auditory, visual, and tactile cues to normalize variable gait characteristics and improve mobility to reduce falls. Auditory cueing is the most effective at improving gait and most practical to apply in all settings (via headphones) but one size does not fit all when using auditory cueing paradigms i.e., there is a need for personalised approaches to ensure cueing interventions are tailored to the individual and their specific functional limitations. Furthermore, the long-term effectiveness of auditory mechanisms (e.g., metronome-based repetitive beep) suffer from their lack of continuous engagement.

This research project aims to examine personalised auditory cueing to improve gait in PwPD. Inertial sensors will capture and analyze validated gait-related characteristics and personalised auditory cues will be examined for their ability to correct variable gait. To reduce burden on PwPD (i.e., minimal number of wearable sensors) and to streamline data capture and deliver auditory cues, a single smartphone will be used only.

The project involves a multidisciplinary study between Computing and Exercise and Rehabilitation at Northumbria University, testing cueing modalities in a controlled laboratory environment under trained researcher supervision. The study will enrol PwPD, focusing on the ability of personalised auditory cueing to improve gait and PwPD preference of auditory cues.

Conditions

• Parkinson's Disease (PD)

Interventions

DEVICE

Cueing

Inertial sensors (via a smartphone worn on the lower back) will capture and analyze validated gait-related characteristics (via a gold-standard inertial system worn on both feet). Personalised auditory cues (via smartphone) will be examined for their ability to correct variable gait. To reduce burden on participants (i.e., minimal number of wearable sensors) and to streamline data capture and deliver auditory cues, a single smartphone and a gold standard reference (2 inertial wearables on each foot) will only be used. All devices attached over clothes via belt attachments.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• North Tyneside General Hospital

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

  collaborator OTHER

• Northumbria University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

50 Years

Max Age

85 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-11-21

Primary Completion

2026-03-19

Completion

2026-03-19

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations