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A device to help people with balance disorder |
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Monday, 22 August 2005 |
A device
to help people with balance disorder
NewKerala.com - Ernakulam,Kerala,India
Washington: Researchers are testing a small device they say can help
people with balance disorder, be useful for healthy people and could some day be
used to help athletes improve their performance.
Loss of balance or vestibular disorders are a fairly common result of
ototoxicity, often from common infections and side effects to antibiotics, and
can affect people of all ages and all walks of life, reports science portal
ScienCentral News.
According to studies, 90 million Americans (40 percent of the population) will
complain to their doctors of dizziness at least once in their lifetime.
This dizziness could indicate damage to the inner ear of both ears that results
in bilateral vestibular loss. Sufferers may also notice visual problems and
imbalance, particularly in the dark.
Researcher Marco Dozza and his colleagues at Oregon Health and Sciences
University (OHSU) produced a device like an MP3 music player to help sufferers
stay on the straight and narrow by giving the wearer's brain more balance input.
Worn on the belt, it contains sensors that detect when the person sways outside
a vertical "safe zone". A computer then converts that information into musical
tones played through headphones, which get louder the further they sway from
vertical and using stereo sound to indicate the direction of the sway.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 27 August 2005 )
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