| Title |
Evaluation of Balance Ability of the Elderly Using Kinect Sensor |
| Authors |
양승태(Yang, Seung-Tae) ; 강동원(Kang, Dong-Won) ; 서정우(Seo, Jeong-Woo) ; 김대혁(Kim, Dae-Hyeok) ; 김태호(Kim, Tae-Ho) ; 최진승(Choi, Jin-Seung) ; 탁계래(Tack, Gye-Rae) |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5370/KIEE.2017.66.2.439 |
| Keywords |
Kinect sensor ; Balance ability ; Standing balance ; Elderly |
| Abstract |
Portable low-cost Kinect sensor was used to analyze standing balance ability of the elderly. Eighty subjects who can walk alone and have a normal cognitive level participated in this experiment. Based on Berg Balance scale (BBS) test with 52 points, subjects were divided into Healthy older (HO: 46 persons, BBS: 53.80pm1.19) and Impaired older (IO: 34 persons, BBS: 49.06pm2.03) group. Each subject performed 30 seconds four different standing balance tests (EO: Eyes Open, EC: Eyes Close, EOf: Eyes Open on foam, ECf: Eyes Close on foam). Five variables (Mean distance, Range of distance, Root mean square, Mean velocity, 95% ellipse area) were calculated from the hip joint center movement of Kinect sensor. Results showed that there were significant differences between groups for four different standing tests. Calculated variables from kinect sensor showed significant correlation with BBS score. Especially, mediolateral mean distance, mediolateral root mean square, mediolateral range of distance and 95% ellipse area showed discriminative ability for all tests. Mean values of variables of IO were higher than those of HO, which means the decreased balance ability in IO compared with HO. Therefore, it was possible to estimate simple balance assessment of the elderly using portable low-cost Kinect sensor. |