Sonification Techniques for Gait Training

The sonification system is composed by 2 inertial sensors, a computer and a pair of bluetooth headphones connected with the computer. The sensors will be placed one per leg at the ankle and connected with Matlab software. An home-made ad-hoc software associates patient's movements with music patterns. The patient's natural rhythm is detected and used at the beginning of the intervention. The first part of each exercise is supported by a pre-recorded chord progression with a click on the background. In the second part (sonification approach) the software notices and records the contact of the heel with the ground. Each contact activates musical stimuli listened to via headphones. The steps succession will build a regular and predictable musical progression in relation to the correct sequence of steps. The exercises planned in this intervention are the same as those planned in the gait standard rehabilitation (see below).

"The training will be carried out without any musical support. Exercises I Phase~1. Load shift in anteroposterior standing in tandem position, left foot forward (3 minutes exercise with a short break in the middle)~2. Load shift in anteroposterior standing in tandem position, right foot forward (3 minutes exercise with a short break in the middle)~3. Left foot swing (3 minutes exercise with a short break in the middle)~4. Right foot swing (3 minutes exercise with a short break in the middle)~5. March in place (3 minutes exercise with a short break in the middle) Exercises II phase (15 minutes): the patient will perform 14 minutes of walking with a 1 minute of break in the middle (7 minutes of walking, 1 minute rest, 7 minutes of walking). In the second part of walking the patient will be asked to slightly increase the pace of the step up to the maximum possible speed."