Assessing the Intuitivity and Feasibility of a Gait Sonification Algorithm in Parkinson’s Disease

Gait impairments are a common symptom of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), though available medications only partially improve them. Here we aim at piloting a novel approach for gait rehabilitation, i.e., gait sonification, which may substantially improve rehabilitation outcomes. Sonification is the transformation into sounds of non-auditory inputs - in this case gait-related parameters - with the aim of augmenting them, using a custom-built algorithm for gait-to-sound mapping.

As a first step, we aim to test the intuitiveness of our gait sonification algorithm in healthy young adults and in a small group of PD patients. Evidence suggests that the intuitiveness of the algorithm is a crucial parameter determining its potential for adoption in everyday life.

This work may lay the foundations for a substantial advance in gait rehabilitation in PD (and beyond), ultimately leading to more comprehensive gait rehabilitation and to personalized gait interventions tailored to individually-determined gait parameter(s).