User-Centered Design of Cues with Smart Glasses for Gait Rehabilitation in People with Parkinson’s Disease: A Methodology for the Analysis of Human Requirements and Cues Effectiveness

User-Centered Design Methodologies for the Prototype Development of a Smart Harness and Related System to Provide Haptic Cues to Persons with Parkinson’s Disease

“…The scientific literature indicates that the use of smart devices for the transmission of sensory cues, particularly by means of vibrations on the trunk, is a promising feedback technique to improve peoples’ gait performance. The devices have been used in different environments and are well-accepted by users [ 26 ]. In addition, vibratory feedback does not require fine physical senses that may deteriorate with age, such as vision or hearing.…”

“…The sensors’ location is a crucial part of the design process since it has a considerable impact on the wearability of the system. According to Gonçalves et al scientific literature review (2021), wearable sensors are most commonly located at the ankle, waist, shin, or foot insole, while the vibratory actuators are usually separately located—at the head, trunk, waist, hip, wrist, ankle, or foot insole [ 26 ]. The location of the actuator is also very important; they should be near bony structures so that the signal is clearly perceptible—but they should avoid being annoying, uncomfortable, or stressful.…”

“…The quality function deployment (QFD) tool, primarily conceived for the evaluation of design strategies in companies, was modified to be more accessible to the multidisciplinary team members [ 29 ]. It was used to create a hierarchy matrix of the project’s characteristics in light of users’ needs, highlighting the characteristics with the highest potential for innovative and pervasive impacts on the project [ 26 ]. The whole team was then asked to score each need so that the ones to be inserted in the matrix would be the most impactful.…”

“…During the first design cycle, several visual, auditory, and vibratory cues were tested to determine which had more influence on the spatiotemporal parameters related to the gait of people with PD. Auditory cues were sent to users by earphones, visual cues by the lenses of the smart glasses, and vibratory cues by the earpieces of the smart glasses [ 26 ].…”

Technological support for people with Parkinson’s disease: a narrative review

“…Results showed that treatment using this cueing system reduced FoG episodes. In the same year, Imbesi et al 62 studied the use of multisensory wearable devices as a support tool for PD patients. They integrated a smartphone-based CuPiD-system with Vuzix Blade SG smart glasses, able to project two-dimensional images on the lenses.…”