Effect of Virtual Reality Upper Limb Rehabilitation Training on Older Adults.

Virtual reality has gained more attention in the physical training field, but few studies focus on the effects of VR on older adults. Based on existing study we suggest that VR-based upper limb training might be more effective for older adults and used functional near inferred spectrum and movement analysis to evaluate the effects of VR-based training on older adults. 20 older and 20 youth adults were recruited to perform VR training by extending their upper limb to reaching the objects, and non-VR training as a contrast. Both age-related and task-related differences were found in cortical activation, showing that the VR training has aroused more cortical activation. The older groups have more intensive movement but perform worse in terms of task completion. Both groups performed better in VR, and the difference in the older group was higher.

Measurement of pressure discomfort threshold in auricular concha for in-ear wearables design.

In an effort to mitigate the homogenization of in-ear wearables, designers have been focusing on finding new solutions to enhance user comfort. While the concept of pressure discomfort thresholds (PDT) in humans has been applied to product design, research on the auricular concha remains scarce. In this study, we conducted an experiment to measure the PDT at six points in the auricular concha of 80 participants. Our results showed that the tragus was the most sensitive area and that gender, symmetry, and Body Mass Index (BMI)had no significant effect on PDT. Based on these findings, we generated pressure sensitivity maps of the auricular concha to aid in the optimization of in-ear wearable design.

Effects of the multisensory rehabilitation product for home-based hand training after stroke on cortical activation by using NIRS methods.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the effects of the multisensory rehabilitation product for stroke patients on cortical activation response through near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). METHODS: The music rehabilitation glove (MRG), multisensory rehabilitation product, was developed with a user-centered design concept. The 40-channel NIRS system monitored the cortical activation changes in the motor cortex (MC), prefrontal cortex (PFC), temporal lobe (TL) and occipital lobe (OL) of 22 young subjects during "sequential finger-to-thumb opposition movements (SFTOM)" phase of traditional training and "musical finger-to-thumb opposition movements (MFTOM)" phase of MRG training. RESULTS: The two phases of training showed significant activation (P < 0.05) in the cerebral cortex compared with baseline, with more activation during MFTOM in the MC, PFC and TL. Compared with SFTOM, there were 22 channels of cortical activation in MFTOM that had significant enhancements (P < 0.05). There was also a significant positive correlation between the prefrontal cortex and motor cortex in the cortical activation. CONCLUSIONS: According to these results, MFTOM-induced cortical activation in the MC, PFC and TL with visual, auditory and tactile stimuli was stronger than SFTOM, providing evidence that the multisensory stimulation is more beneficial to cortical activation and cognitive control to promote neurological recovery.