TY - JOUR
T1 - Body-Machine Interface Enables People with Cervical Spinal Cord Injury to Control Devices with Available Body Movements
T2 - Proof of Concept
AU - Abdollahi, Farnaz
AU - Farshchiansadegh, Ali
AU - Pierella, Camilla
AU - Seáñez-González, Ismael
AU - Thorp, Elias
AU - Lee, Mei Hua
AU - Ranganathan, Rajiv
AU - Pedersen, Jessica
AU - Chen, David
AU - Roth, Elliot
AU - Casadio, Maura
AU - Mussa-Ivaldi, Ferdinando
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Grant 5R01HD072080 and NIDRR grant H133E120010.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Society of Neurorehabilitation.
PY - 2017/5/1
Y1 - 2017/5/1
N2 - This study tested the use of a customized body-machine interface (BoMI) for enhancing functional capabilities in persons with cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI). The interface allows people with cSCI to operate external devices by reorganizing their residual movements. This was a proof-of-concept phase 0 interventional nonrandomized clinical trial. Eight cSCI participants wore a custom-made garment with motion sensors placed on the shoulders. Signals derived from the sensors controlled a computer cursor. A standard algorithm extracted the combinations of sensor signals that best captured each participant's capacity for controlling a computer cursor. Participants practiced with the BoMI for 24 sessions over 12 weeks performing 3 tasks: reaching, typing, and game playing. Learning and performance were evaluated by the evolution of movement time, errors, smoothness, and performance metrics specific to each task. Through practice, participants were able to reduce the movement time and the distance from the target at the 1-second mark in the reaching task. They also made straighter and smoother movements while reaching to different targets. All participants became faster in the typing task and more skilled in game playing, as the pong hit rate increased significantly with practice. The results provide proof-of-concept for the customized BoMI as a means for people with absent or severely impaired hand movements to control assistive devices that otherwise would be manually operated.
AB - This study tested the use of a customized body-machine interface (BoMI) for enhancing functional capabilities in persons with cervical spinal cord injury (cSCI). The interface allows people with cSCI to operate external devices by reorganizing their residual movements. This was a proof-of-concept phase 0 interventional nonrandomized clinical trial. Eight cSCI participants wore a custom-made garment with motion sensors placed on the shoulders. Signals derived from the sensors controlled a computer cursor. A standard algorithm extracted the combinations of sensor signals that best captured each participant's capacity for controlling a computer cursor. Participants practiced with the BoMI for 24 sessions over 12 weeks performing 3 tasks: reaching, typing, and game playing. Learning and performance were evaluated by the evolution of movement time, errors, smoothness, and performance metrics specific to each task. Through practice, participants were able to reduce the movement time and the distance from the target at the 1-second mark in the reaching task. They also made straighter and smoother movements while reaching to different targets. All participants became faster in the typing task and more skilled in game playing, as the pong hit rate increased significantly with practice. The results provide proof-of-concept for the customized BoMI as a means for people with absent or severely impaired hand movements to control assistive devices that otherwise would be manually operated.
KW - body-machine interface
KW - cervical spinal cord injury
KW - proportional control
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U2 - 10.1177/1545968317693111
DO - 10.1177/1545968317693111
M3 - Article
C2 - 28413945
AN - SCOPUS:85018220012
VL - 31
SP - 487
EP - 493
JO - Journal of Neurologic Rehabilitation
JF - Journal of Neurologic Rehabilitation
SN - 1545-9683
IS - 5
ER -