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Fulltext Discernment on assistive technology for the care and support requirements of older adults and differently-abled individuals

Muthu P, Tan Y, Latha S, Dhanalakshmi S, Lai KW, Wu X

Front Public Health, 2022;10:1030656.
PMID: 36699937 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1030656

Assistive technology for the differently abled and older adults has made remarkable achievements in providing rehabilitative, adaptive, and assistive devices. It provides huge assistance for people with physical impairments to lead a better self-reliant daily life, in terms of mobility, education, rehabilitation, etc. This technology ranges from simple hand-held devices to complex robotic accessories which promote the individual's independence. This study aimed at identifying the assistance required by differently-abled individuals, and the solutions proposed by different researchers, and reviewed their merits and demerits. It provides a detailed discussion on the state of art assistive technologies, their applications, challenges, types, and their usage for rehabilitation. The study also identifies different unexplored research areas related to assistive technology that can improve the daily life of individuals and advance the field. Despite their high usage, assistive technologies have some limitations which have been briefly described in the study. This review, therefore, can help understand the utilization, and pros and cons of assistive devices in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices*
Fulltext Simulation of passive exotendon assistive device for agricultural harvesting task

Chan YS, Teo YX, Gouwanda D, Nurzaman SG, Gopalai AA

Phys Eng Sci Med, 2023 Dec;46(4):1375-1386.
PMID: 37493930 DOI: 10.1007/s13246-023-01305-9

This study proposes and investigates the feasibility of the passive assistive device to assist agricultural harvesting task and reduce the Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) risk of harvesters using computational musculoskeletal modelling and simulations. Several passive assistive devices comprised of elastic exotendon, which acts in parallel with different back muscles (rectus abdominis, longissimus, and iliocostalis), were designed and modelled. These passive assistive devices were integrated individually into the musculoskeletal model to provide passive support for the harvesting task. The muscle activation, muscle force, and joint moment were computed with biomechanical simulations for unassisted and assisted motions. The simulation results demonstrated that passive assistive devices reduced muscle activation, muscle force, and joint moment, particularly when the devices were attached to the iliocostalis and rectus abdominis. It was also discovered that assisting the longissimus muscle can alleviate the workload by distributing a portion of it to the rectus abdominis. The findings in this study support the feasibility of adopting passive assistive devices to reduce the MSD risk of the harvesters during agricultural harvesting. These findings can provide valuable insights to the engineers and designers of physical assistive devices on which muscle(s) to assist during agricultural harvesting.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices*
Design of a Braille Learning Application for Visually Impaired Students in Bangladesh

Nahar L, Jaafar A, Ahamed E, Kaish AB

Assist Technol, 2015;27(3):172-82.
PMID: 26427745 DOI: 10.1080/10400435.2015.1011758

Visually impaired students (VIS) are unable to get visual information, which has made their learning process complicated. This paper discusses the overall situation of VIS in Bangladesh and identifies major challenges that they are facing in getting education. The Braille system is followed to educate blind students in Bangladesh. However, lack of Braille based educational resources and technological solutions have made the learning process lengthy and complicated for VIS. As a developing country, Bangladesh cannot afford for the costly Braille related technological tools for VIS. Therefore, a mobile phone based Braille application, "mBRAILLE", for Android platform is designed to provide an easy Braille learning technology for VIS in Bangladesh. The proposed design is evaluated by experts in assistive technology for students with disabilities, and advanced learners of Braille. The application aims to provide a Bangla and English Braille learning platform for VIS. In this paper, we depict iterative (participatory) design of the application along with a preliminary evaluation with 5 blind subjects, and 1 sighted and 2 blind experts. The results show that the design scored an overall satisfaction level of 4.53 out of 5 by all respondents, indicating that our design is ready for the next step of development.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices*
Fulltext A research review: how technology helps to improve the learning process of learners with dyslexia

Chai JT, Chen CJ

Journal of Cognitive Sciences & Human Development, 2017;2(2):26-43.
MyJurnal

Dyslexia is a language disorder that leads to difficulty with words and it is the most common type of learning disability. This article presents a systematic review on the current state of assistive technologies used in improving the learning process of learn-ers with dyslexia. A total of 25 journals articles and international conference papers published between 2000 and 2014 were included in the review. The research articles were collected from 12 databases and analyzed based on the qualitative cyclical pro-cess. A majority of the studies focused on children and adolescents. Four main themes on the types of technologies used in aiding the learning process of learners with dys-lexia are derived and discussed. These include text-to-speech, eye-tracking, virtual learning environments, and games. The text-to-speech technology is the most common type of technology used by learners with dyslexia. In terms of the roles played by the assistive technologies, another four emerging themes are identified, which cover the roles of aiding reading, writing, memory, and mathematics. The review also discovers that a majority of these studies focus on the use of technologies for improving the reading ability of learners with dyslexia.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices
Fulltext A smart wheelchair prototype based on hand gesture control

Shaari AR, Mohd Jani MN, Mohamed Yunus AS

Journal of Engineering and Science Research, 2017;1(2):209-214.
MyJurnal

Wheelchair has been an important assistive device and the demand are ever rising because of the increasing physically handicapped and old age populations. The recent development in the robotics artificial intelligence extends vast scope for developing the more advanced and intelligent one to overcome limitations of the existing traditional wheelchairs. The prototype smart wheelchair were present on this paper using hardware implementation with the help of simple hand gesture which is comprises of an accelerometer mounted on the hand glove senses the tilt angle of the user hand movements and transmits control signal to the receiver mounted on wheelchair. This will interpret the movement accordingly required by user. The wheelchair control unit is developed by integration of ATMEGA328 microcontroller with Arduino UNO. The wheelchair is developed to allow peoples to move safely and put reliability in accomplishment of some important tasks in daily life.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices
Fulltext Increased Lower Limb Loading During Sit-to-Stand is Important for the Potential for Walking Progression in Ambulatory Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury

Khuna L, Mato L, Amatachaya P, Thaweewannakij T, Amatachaya S

Malays J Med Sci, 2019 Jan;26(1):99-106.
PMID: 30914897 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2019.26.1.9

Background: Decreased rehabilitation time may increase the need for walking devices at the time of discharge to promote levels of independence among ambulatory individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). However, using walking devices could create adverse effects on patients. This study explores the proportion of walking devices used, potential for walking progression, and associated factors among ambulatory individuals with SCI.
Methods: Fifty-seven participants were assessed for their demographics and functional ability relating to the requirement for walking devices, including the Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT) and lower limb loading during sit-to-stand (LLL-STS).
Results: Thirty-five participants (61%) used a walking device, particularly a standard walker, for daily walking. More than half of them (n = 23, 66%) had potential of walking progression (i.e., safely walk with a less-support device than the usual one). The ability of walking progression was significantly associated with a mild severity of injury, increased lower-limb muscle strength, decreased time to complete the TUGT, and, in particular, increased LLL-STS.
Conclusion: A large proportion of ambulatory individuals with SCI have the potential for walking progression, which may increase their level of independence and minimise the appearance of disability. Strategies to promote LLL-STS are important for this progression.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices
InWalker: smart white cane for the blind

Husin MH, Lim YK

Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol, 2020 08;15(6):701-707.
PMID: 31729282 DOI: 10.1080/17483107.2019.1615999

Background/Purpose: Visual impairment is a disability more commonly caused by diseases that lead to several disadvantages to the daily activities amongst those blind. For almost a century since the white cane was first introduced, the cane has remained as the most reliable tool for those affected by blindness.Methods: By using a combination of the capabilities of Internet of Things (IoT) and existing devices, such as mobile phones, an InWalker system is proposed to expand the functionality of the typical white cane, so as to introduce several new features that enhance the safety and confidence amongst people who are blind. As such, this paper explores the existing works and projects to comprehend the motivation and the standard practices for each proposed feature. Each of the strength and drawback has been assessed thoroughly to refine the scope of this project.Results: The proposed project, InWalker, is an intelligent system that has an embedded board system with various sensors to enhance the usability of white cane. The inputs from the sensor are processed on a microcontroller, which then pass the data to a smartphone via Bluetooth for additional features, such as global positioning system (GPS) tracking and SMS services.Conclusions: Based on the initial user testing, the proposed system has successfully fulfilled most of the users' need.Implication for RehabilitationVisual impairment is a disability more commonly caused by diseases that lead to several disadvantages amongst those blind.The white cane has been seen as the most reliable tool for the visual impaired.This tool could be further improved with the integration of additional sensors that works with today's mobile devices.The proposed system, InWalker, is able to improve the overall quality of life among people who are blind through several features: obstacle detection, GPS tracking and a light illumination in dark environments for increased safety.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices*
Changes in Muscle Activity in Response to Assistive Force during Isometric Elbow Flexion

Loh PY, Hayashi K, Nasir N, Muraki S

J Mot Behav, 2020;52(5):634-642.
PMID: 31571525 DOI: 10.1080/00222895.2019.1670128

This study investigated the muscle activity and force variability in response to perturbation of assistive force during isometric elbow flexion. Sixteen healthy right-handed young men (age: 22.0 ± 1.1 years; height: 171.9 ± 4.8 cm; weight 68.4 ± 11.2 kg) were recruited and the muscle activity of biceps brachii and triceps brachii were assessed using surface electromyography. Workload force and assistive force applied on isometric elbow flexion significantly affected the changes in both biceps and triceps muscle activities. A higher assistive force was shown to result in reduced biceps muscle activity compared to the unassisted period. In contrast, the efficiency of the assistive force acting on the biceps decreased as the assistive force increased. In general, the force variability of the biceps muscle remained approximately the same at lower workload force conditions than that at higher workload force conditions. In conclusion, higher assistive force may not yield a higher performance efficiency in human-assistive force interaction.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices*
Adaptive invention: independence and mobility through modifications

Mairami FF, Allotey P, Warren N, Mak JS, Reidpath DD

Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol, 2018 10;13(7):658-664.
PMID: 28836873 DOI: 10.1080/17483107.2017.1369586

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a leading cause of disability that limits everyday activities and reduces social participation. Provision of assistive devices helps to achieve independence and social inclusion. However, due to limited resources or a lack of suited objects for their needs, individuals with disabilities in low and middle income countries (LMIC) often do not have access to assistive devices. This has resulted in the creation of purpose built innovative solutions. Methodology and case content: This paper uses a single case derived from a larger ethnographic study of stroke survivors in rural Malaysia to demonstrate the role of assistive devices in shaping stroke recovery and how existing structures can be modified. Second, the concept of affordances in relation to structures within the environment, issues of affordability and accessibility of assistive devices for individuals in LMIC are discussed.
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS: Stroke recovery involves adapting to new limitations and discovering the support necessary to live life. These changes are influenced by a range of environmental factors. Healthcare professionals need to support stroke patients in identifying challenges and work to find innovative ways to address them. Stroke survivors may benefit from the use of an assistive device beyond its clinical function to participate purposefully in activities of daily living. Implications for Rehabilitation Stroke is a cause of disability that limits everyday activities and reduces social participation. Assistive devices help achieve independence, social inclusion and shape stroke recovery. Individuals with disabilities in low and middle income countries often do not have access to assistive devices and resort to innovative solutions that are purpose built. Stroke recovery involves adapting to new limitations and discovering the support necessary to live life as best as possible.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices*
Fulltext Optimising technology to measure functional vision, mobility and service outcomes for people with low vision or blindness: protocol for a prospective cohort study in Australia and Malaysia

Deverell L, Meyer D, Lau BT, Al Mahmud A, Sukunesan S, Bhowmik J, et al.

BMJ Open, 2017 12 21;7(12):e018140.
PMID: 29273657 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018140

INTRODUCTION: Orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists assess the functional vision and O&M skills of people with mobility problems, usually relating to low vision or blindness. There are numerous O&M assessment checklists but no measures that reduce qualitative assessment data to a single comparable score suitable for assessing any O&M client, of any age or ability, in any location. Functional measures are needed internationally to align O&M assessment practices, guide referrals, profile O&M clients, plan appropriate services and evaluate outcomes from O&M programmes (eg, long cane training), assistive technology (eg, hazard sensors) and medical interventions (eg, retinal implants). This study aims to validate two new measures of functional performance vision-related outcomes in orientation and mobility (VROOM) and orientation and mobility outcomes (OMO) in the context of ordinary O&M assessments in Australia, with cultural comparisons in Malaysia, also developing phone apps and online training to streamline professional assessment practices.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This multiphase observational study will employ embedded mixed methods with a qualitative/quantitative priority: corating functional vision and O&M during social inquiry. Australian O&M agencies (n=15) provide the sampling frame. O&M specialists will use quota sampling to generate cross-sectional assessment data (n=400) before investigating selected cohorts in outcome studies. Cultural relevance of the VROOM and OMO tools will be investigated in Malaysia, where the tools will inform the design of assistive devices and evaluate prototypes. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Rasch modelling, cluster analysis and analysis of variance will be undertaken along with descriptive analysis of measurement data. Qualitative findings will be used to interpret VROOM and OMO scores, filter statistically significant results, warrant their generalisability and identify additional relevant constructs that could also be measured.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee at Swinburne University (SHR Project 2016/316). Dissemination of results will be via agency reports, journal articles and conference presentations.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices*
Fulltext Locally made paediatric rehabilitation and seating systems for cerebral palsy children in Sarawak

Ling, Sui Hui, Chua, Soh Yian, Habsah Razak, Muhamad Rais Abdullah, Wong, See Chang, Toh, Teck Hock

Int J Public Health Res, 2011;1(2):146-151.
MyJurnal

Introduction Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are often prescribed Rehabilitation and Seating Systems (RSS) to assist in daily activities, posture improvement and prevention of muscular-skeletal complications. In Sarawak, a special project to produce RSS was started under a partnership of a Japanese physiotherapist, health department and the community using local material.Aim To document the RSS project and to determine usefulness and costaffordability of these systems for cerebral palsy children and their families.
Methods The details of RSS manufactured were retrieved from the clinic notes and secretary file. Parents of children who received the seating systems between July 2004 and September 2008 were invited to complete a 5-point Global Parental Perception Questionnaire (GPPQ) between December 2008 and January 2009.
Results 277 RSS were manufactured between July 2004 and February 2011 (which included modified wheel chair, wooden chair, corner chair, buggy chair and standing frame), and used by children all over Sarawak. Parents of 73 children who used the seating systems completed the 5-points GPPQ. Ten families required full sponsorship. Children spent more time sitting up and brought outdoor more often after the systems became available. Majority of parents reported positive experience in their children with sitting ability, smiles, interaction with people, learning skills and easiness of doing physiotherapy. No change was noted with passing of motion drooling / oral secretion. Most parents agreed that the cost was affordable and worth paying.
Conclusions A community based initiative to manufacture RSS by using locally available material and skill, at affordable price for the parents was feasible and useful for the family/children with CP.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices
Recent trends for practical rehabilitation robotics, current challenges and the future

Yakub F, Md Khudzari AZ, Mori Y

Int J Rehabil Res, 2014 Mar;37(1):9-21.
PMID: 24126254 DOI: 10.1097/MRR.0000000000000035

This paper presents and studies various selected literature primarily from conference proceedings, journals and clinical tests of the robotic, mechatronics, neurology and biomedical engineering of rehabilitation robotic systems. The present paper focuses of three main categories: types of rehabilitation robots, key technologies with current issues and future challenges. Literature on fundamental research with some examples from commercialized robots and new robot development projects related to rehabilitation are introduced. Most of the commercialized robots presented in this paper are well known especially to robotics engineers and scholars in the robotic field, but are less known to humanities scholars. The field of rehabilitation robot research is expanding; in light of this, some of the current issues and future challenges in rehabilitation robot engineering are recalled, examined and clarified with future directions. This paper is concluded with some recommendations with respect to rehabilitation robots.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices
Fulltext Human facial neural activities and gesture recognition for machine-interfacing applications

Hamedi M, Salleh ShH, Tan TS, Ismail K, Ali J, Dee-Uam C, et al.

Int J Nanomedicine, 2011;6:3461-72.
PMID: 22267930 DOI: 10.2147/IJN.S26619

The authors present a new method of recognizing different human facial gestures through their neural activities and muscle movements, which can be used in machine-interfacing applications. Human-machine interface (HMI) technology utilizes human neural activities as input controllers for the machine. Recently, much work has been done on the specific application of facial electromyography (EMG)-based HMI, which have used limited and fixed numbers of facial gestures. In this work, a multipurpose interface is suggested that can support 2-11 control commands that can be applied to various HMI systems. The significance of this work is finding the most accurate facial gestures for any application with a maximum of eleven control commands. Eleven facial gesture EMGs are recorded from ten volunteers. Detected EMGs are passed through a band-pass filter and root mean square features are extracted. Various combinations of gestures with a different number of gestures in each group are made from the existing facial gestures. Finally, all combinations are trained and classified by a Fuzzy c-means classifier. In conclusion, combinations with the highest recognition accuracy in each group are chosen. An average accuracy >90% of chosen combinations proved their ability to be used as command controllers.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices
Use of technology by orientation and mobility professionals in Australia and Malaysia before COVID-19

Deverell L, Bhowmik J, Lau BT, Al Mahmud A, Sukunesan S, Islam FMA, et al.

Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol, 2020 Jul 09.
PMID: 32643468 DOI: 10.1080/17483107.2020.1785565

PURPOSE: Orientation and Mobility (O&M) professionals teach people with low vision or blindness to use specialist assistive technologies to support confident travel, but many O&M clients now prefer a smartphone. This study aimed to investigate what technology O&M professionals in Australia and Malaysia have, use, like, and want to support their client work, to inform the development of O&M technologies and build capacity in the international O&M profession.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A technology survey was completed by professionals (n = 36) attending O&M workshops in Malaysia. A revised survey was completed online by O&M specialists (n = 31) primarily in Australia. Qualitative data about technology use came from conferences, workshops and interviews with O&M professionals. Descriptive statistics were analysed together with free-text data.
RESULTS: Limited awareness of apps used by clients, unaffordability of devices, and inadequate technology training discouraged many O&M professionals from employing existing technologies in client programmes or for broader professional purposes. Professionals needed to learn smartphone accessibility features and travel-related apps, and ways to use technology during O&M client programmes, initial professional training, ongoing professional development and research.
CONCLUSIONS: Smartphones are now integral to travel with low vision or blindness and early-adopter O&M clients are the travel tech-experts. O&M professionals need better initial training and then regular upskilling in mainstream O&M technologies to expand clients' travel choices. COVID-19 has created an imperative for technology laggards to upskill for O&M tele-practice. O&M technology could support comprehensive O&M specialist training and practice in Malaysia, to better serve O&M clients with complex needs.Implications for rehabilitationMost orientation and mobility (O&M) clients are travelling with a smartphone, so O&M specialists need to be abreast of mainstream technologies, accessibility features and apps used by clients for orientation, mobility, visual efficiency and social engagement.O&M specialists who are technology laggards need human-guided support to develop confidence in using travel technologies, and O&M clients are the experts. COVID-19 has created an imperative to learn skills for O&M tele-practice.Affordability is a significant barrier to O&M professionals and clients accessing specialist travel technologies in Malaysia, and to O&M professionals upgrading technology in Australia.Comprehensive training for O&M specialists is needed in Malaysia to meet the travel needs of clients with low vision or blindness who also have physical, cognitive, sensory or mental health complications.

Matched MeSH terms: Self-Help Devices

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