Pain signaling with physiological data for persons with communication difficulties: A pilot study of the Pain App

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Korving ◽  
Peter Peters ◽  
Emilia Barakova ◽  
Loe Feijs ◽  
Paula Sterkenburg
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Communication Difficulties

A Virtual Reality Version of the Trier Social Stress Test: A Pilot Study

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattias Wallergård ◽  
Peter Jönsson ◽  
Gerd Johansson ◽  
Björn Karlson
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Stress Test ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Trier Social Stress Test ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Virtual Humans ◽  
Arithmetic Task

One of the most common methods of inducing stress in the laboratory in order to examine the stress response in healthy and clinical populations is the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Briefly, the participant is asked to deliver a speech and to perform an arithmetic task in front of an evaluating committee. The committee, consisting of three trained actors, does not respond emotionally during the test, which makes the situation very stressful for the participant. One disadvantage of the TSST is that it can be difficult to hold the experimental conditions constant. In particular, it may be difficult for actors to hold their acting constant across all sessions. Furthermore, there are several practical problems and costs associated with hiring professional actors. A computerized version of the TSST using virtual humans could be a way to avoid these problems provided that it is able to induce a stress response similar to the one of the original TSST. The purpose of the present pilot study was therefore to investigate the stress response to a virtual reality (VR) version of the TSST visualized using an immersive VR system (VR-TSST). Seven healthy males with an average age of 24 years (range: 23–26 years) performed the VR-TSST. This included delivering a speech and performing an arithmetic task in front of an evaluating committee consisting of three virtual humans. The VR equipment was a CAVE equipped with stereoscopy and head tracking. ECG and respiration were recorded as well as the participant's behavior and comments. Afterward, a semi-structured interview was carried out. In general, the subjective and physiological data from the experiment indicated that the VR version of the TSST induced a stress response in the seven participants. In particular, the peak increase in heart rate was close to rates observed in studies using the traditional TSST with real actors. These results suggest that virtual humans visualized with an immersive VR system can be used to induce stress under laboratory conditions.

Assessment of Jerk As a Method of Physical Fatigue Detection

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lichen Zhang ◽  
Mohsen Mutasem Diraneyya ◽  
JuHyeong Ryu ◽  
Carl T. Haas ◽  
Eihab Abdel-Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Time Derivative ◽  
Numerical Differentiation ◽  
Work Conditions ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Physical Fatigue ◽  
Characteristic Values ◽  
Intensive Work ◽  
Fatigue Detection

Workers’ fatigue is a significant problem in physically demanding occupations. Physical fatigue is known to result in the inability to maintain proper posture and working technique. Consequently, workers lose their ability to safely and effectively perform their duties. Thus, understanding the physical demands of labor-intensive work is of great importance in protecting workers’ safety, and maintaining productivity. Current fatigue assessments methods, including surveys and questionnaires, are subjective and lack reliability. Objective fatigue assessments based on physiological data are more reliable, however they are cumbersome to implement in real work conditions. There is a need for an objective fatigue assessment method that can monitor physical fatigue with minimal intrusion. The goal of this study was to investigate whether jerk, the time-derivative of acceleration, can be used to objectively detect physical fatigue. A pilot study on masons was conducted to determine if physical fatigue can be detected by changes in jerk values. Ten participants performed a bricklaying task using forty-five concrete masonry units (CMU). Seven body segments, namely the hands, forearms, upper arms, and pelvis, were selected for placement of IMU sensors to measure the segment accelerations. Jerk was calculated from the measured acceleration via numerical differentiation. Characteristic values of the jerk at the beginning and end of the bricklaying task were obtained to represent the rested and fatigued states. They were then compared for significant differences. Jerk values calculated from the IMU sensors located on the upper arms and pelvis showed significant differences between rested and fatigued states. The results of this pilot study indicate that the characteristic jerk can be used to detect physical fatigue, however caution must be taken in selecting sensor locations to reduce the influence of spurious signals.

App-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment to Enhance Clinical Care for Postpartum Depression: Pilot Study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Krohn ◽  
Jerry Guintivano ◽  
Rachel Frische ◽  
Jamie Steed ◽  
Hannah Rackers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Postpartum Depression ◽  
Ecological Momentary Assessment ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Care Access ◽  
Ecological Momentary ◽  
Momentary Assessment

BACKGROUND Wearable tracking devices and mobile health technology are increasingly used in an effort to enhance clinical care and delivery of personalized medical treatment. Postpartum depression is the most frequently diagnosed complication of childbirth but significant gaps in screening and treatment remain. OBJECTIVE We investigated the clinical utility and acceptability of using ecological momentary assessment to collect daily mood, sleep, and activity data through the use of an Apple Watch and mobile app among women with postpartum depression. METHODS This was a pilot study consisting of three in-person research visits over the course of a 6-week enrollment period. Questionnaires to assess depression, anxiety, and maternal functioning were periodically collected, along with daily self-reported symptoms and passively collected physiological data via an Apple Watch. Feedback was collected from study participants and the study clinician to determine the utility and acceptability of daily tracking. Compliance with daily ecological momentary assessments was also measured. RESULTS Of the 26 women enrolled, 23 completed the 6-week study. On average, participants completed 66.7% of all active daily assessments and 73.9% of all passive measures. Further, all 23 participants completed the three required visits with the research team. CONCLUSIONS Using ecological momentary assessment to track daily symptoms of postpartum depression with a wearable device was largely endorsed as feasible, acceptable and clinically useful by participants and the study clinician and could be a innovative solution to increase care access during the COVID-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals Sleep in the Natural Environment: A Pilot Study

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1378
Author(s):  
Fayzan F. Chaudhry ◽  
Matteo Danieletto ◽  
Eddye Golden ◽  
Jerome Scelza ◽  
Greg Botwin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Sleep Duration ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Sleep Cycle ◽  
Recording Equipment ◽  
Digital Devices ◽  
Smart Watch

Sleep quality has been directly linked to cognitive function, quality of life, and a variety of serious diseases across many clinical domains. Standard methods for assessing sleep involve overnight studies in hospital settings, which are uncomfortable, expensive, not representative of real sleep, and difficult to conduct on a large scale. Recently, numerous commercial digital devices have been developed that record physiological data, such as movement, heart rate, and respiratory rate, which can act as a proxy for sleep quality in lieu of standard electroencephalogram recording equipment. The sleep-related output metrics from these devices include sleep staging and total sleep duration and are derived via proprietary algorithms that utilize a variety of these physiological recordings. Each device company makes different claims of accuracy and measures different features of sleep quality, and it is still unknown how well these devices correlate with one another and perform in a research setting. In this pilot study of 21 participants, we investigated whether sleep metric outputs from self-reported sleep metrics (SRSMs) and four sensors, specifically Fitbit Surge (a smart watch), Withings Aura (a sensor pad that is placed under a mattress), Hexoskin (a smart shirt), and Oura Ring (a smart ring), were related to known cognitive and psychological metrics, including the n-back test and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). We analyzed correlation between multiple device-related sleep metrics. Furthermore, we investigated relationships between these sleep metrics and cognitive scores across different timepoints and SRSM through univariate linear regressions. We found that correlations for sleep metrics between the devices across the sleep cycle were almost uniformly low, but still significant (p < 0.05). For cognitive scores, we found the Withings latency was statistically significant for afternoon and evening timepoints at p = 0.016 and p = 0.013. We did not find any significant associations between SRSMs and PSQI or cognitive scores. Additionally, Oura Ring’s total sleep duration and efficiency in relation to the PSQI measure was statistically significant at p = 0.004 and p = 0.033, respectively. These findings can hopefully be used to guide future sensor-based sleep research.

scholarly journals Sleep in the Natural Environment: A Pilot Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fayzan F. Chaudhry ◽  
Matteo Danieletto ◽  
Eddye Golden ◽  
Jerome Scelza ◽  
Greg Botwin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Sleep Quality ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Sleep Cycle ◽  
Sleep Research ◽  
Research Setting ◽  
Recording Equipment ◽  
Digital Devices

Sleep quality has been directly linked to cognitive function, quality of life, and a variety of serious diseases across many clinical domains such as psychiatry and cardiology. Standard methods for assessing sleep involve overnight studies in hospital settings, which are uncomfortable, expensive, not representative of real sleep, and difficult to conduct on a large scale. Recently, a number of commercial digital devices have been developed that record physiological data which can act as a proxy for sleep quality in lieu of standard electroencephalogram recording equipment. Each device company makes different claims of accuracy and measures different features of sleep quality, and it is still unknown how well these devices correlate with one another and perform in a research setting. In this pilot study of 21 participants, we investigated whether outputs from four sensors, specifically FitBit, Withings Aura, Hexoskin, and Oura Ring, were related to known cognitive and psychological metrics, including the PSQI and N-back test. We found that sleep metrics extracted from these devices did not predict cognitive and psychological metrics well in our pilot data. However, we did identify certain signification associations, specifically the Oura Ring&rsquo;s total sleep duration and efficiency in relation to the PSQI measure with p=0.004 and p=0.033, respectively. Additionally, correlation of various sleep features among the devices across the sleep cycle was almost uniformly low. These findings can hopefully be used to guide future sensor-based sleep research.

scholarly journals Physiological Reactions and Performance Parameters in Single-Player and Competitive Arm Rehabilitation Game: A Pilot Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
José M Catalán ◽  
Andrea Blanco ◽  
Jorge A Díez ◽  
José V García ◽  
David Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Stress Level ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Intensity Level ◽  
Dominant Hand ◽  
Performance Parameters ◽  
Competitive Game ◽  
Player Game ◽  
Robot Assistance

Abstract BackgroundInterpersonal rehabilitation games, compared to single-player games, enhance motivation and intensity level. Usually, it is very difficult to limit the use of the system to pairs of impaired patients who have a similar skill level. Thus, such games must be dynamically adapted so that two players with different abilities can play together. Current algorithms are based only on game performance parameters (e.g., score). In addition, these studies do not include active robotic devices, so the parameters related to the level of robot assistance are not usually included in these studies. This means that the adaptation methods are entirely based on modifying aspects of the game. The aim of this article, is to study the effect that game modality and robot parameters that can be affected by the level of robot assistance (e.g., velocity, reaction time) have on the stress level of the subjects.MethodsThe pilot study has involved 10 unimpaired participants (5 pairs). Each subject sat in front of a robotic rehabilitation platform and grasped the end-effector of the robot with their dominant hand and played two kinds of therapy games: i) a single-player game in 3 difficulty modes; and ii) a competitive game. Robot and game parameters and subject's physiological responses were recording during the therapy games.ResultsThe intensity level in the most difficult single-player game mode, is almost equal to the one of the competitive mode (p=1.0). The stress perceived subjectively by participants increases with intensity. They indicate that the stress level in competitive mode is equal or somewhat greater than in high difficulty mode. On the other hand, physiological data suggest that it is somewhat lower in the competitive mode. Therefore, in this mode participants think they experience a higher stress level than they are actually experiencing. In addition, physiological responses show differences between intensity levels, and they also have a good correlation with the measured robot parameters.ConclusionResults show that, comparing competitive game with the single-player high-difficulty game, a similar intensity level is remarkable. However, the competitive game increase the stress level to a lesser extent. In addition, feedback from participants suggests that it is necessary to keep a certain stress level to make the activity more challenging, and therefore be more engaging and rewarding.

Pilot study on criteria in cavity preparation-facts or artifacts?

1973 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 27-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Salvendy ◽  
WM Hinton ◽  
GW Ferguson ◽  
PR Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Cavity Preparation

A Pilot Study of Early Storybook Reading With Babies With Hearing Loss

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (9) ◽  
pp. 3397-3412
Author(s):  
Michelle I. Brown ◽  
David Trembath ◽  
Marleen F. Westerveld ◽  
Gail T. Gillon
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Eye Contact ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Storybook Reading ◽  
Book Selection ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Parent Child

Purpose This pilot study explored the effectiveness of an early storybook reading (ESR) intervention for parents with babies with hearing loss (HL) for improving (a) parents' book selection skills, (b) parent–child eye contact, and (c) parent–child turn-taking. Advancing research into ESR, this study examined whether the benefits from an ESR intervention reported for babies without HL were also observed in babies with HL. Method Four mother–baby dyads participated in a multiple baseline single-case experimental design across behaviors. Treatment effects for parents' book selection skills, parent–child eye contact, and parent–child turn-taking were examined using visual analysis and Tau-U analysis. Results Statistically significant increases, with large to very large effect sizes, were observed for all 4 participants for parent–child eye contact and parent–child turn-taking. Limited improvements with ceiling effects were observed for parents' book selection skills. Conclusion The findings provide preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of an ESR intervention for babies with HL for promoting parent–child interactions through eye contact and turn-taking.

The Labeling Problem in Aphasia

1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey L. Holland ◽  
Davida Fromm ◽  
Carol S. Swindell
Keyword(s):  
Speech Disorders ◽  
Case Description ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Apraxia Of Speech ◽  
Poor Agreement ◽  
Motor Speech ◽  
Motor Speech Disorders ◽  
Communication Difficulties ◽  
Token Test ◽  
Primary Problem

Twenty-five "experts" on neurogenic motor speech disorders participated in a tutorial exercise. Each was given information on M, a patient who had communication difficulties as the result of stroke, and asked to complete a questionnaire about his problem. The information included a detailed case description, an audiotape of M's speech obtained at 4, 9, 13, and 17 days post-stroke, and test results from the Western Aphasia Battery, the Token Test, and a battery for apraxia of speech. The experts were in excellent agreement on M's primary problem, although it was called by seven different names. The experts were in poor agreement on his secondary problem(s), e.g., the presence and type of aphasia and dysarthria. The results suggest that labeling is difficult, even for "experts." Furthermore, the practicing clinician needs to be sensitive to the likelihood of more than one coexisting problem.

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