A head-worn display (“smart glasses”) has adverse impacts on the dynamics of lateral position control during gait

Impact of walking states, self-reported daily walking amount and age on the gait of older adults measured with a smart-phone app: a pilot study

“…In the fast-walking state, the step frequency is higher, and the RMS acceleration, step time variability, and step regularity are larger, which indicate that fast walking affects the stability of walking. Unlike previous studies, which found that smart glasses had an adverse effect on lateral gait [ 16 , 17 ], we infer that simulated visually impaired walking does not significantly affect gait quality compared to normal walking, which may be due to human visual adaptability. Therefore, walking with pigmented sunglasses can be used as a cost-effective training intervention to improve gait performance among the older adults.…”

“…Surprisingly, in this study, we found that the variability in older older adults is smaller than that in younger older adult individuals under the normal walking or visually impaired states. Studies have shown that high variability is a risk factor for falling [ 33 ] and frailty [ 30 ], and some studies have shown that high or low variability is related to walking speed [ 16 ]. However, Kosse et al [ 9 ] found that healthy younger people have greater variability, are more difficult to predict, and have a higher symmetry than older adults.…”

“…When older adults walk, they commonly indulge in dual tasks and these lead to more sensitivity to gait impairment than a single task [ 13 ]. Previous studies used different walking states to simulate the daily walking of older adults, such as walking with motor tasks [ 14 ], cognitive tasks [ 11 , 14 ], smartphone usage [ 15 ] and wearing smart glasses [ 16 ]. It was found that head-worn ‘smart glasses’ had adverse impacts on the gait dynamics of lateral position control [ 16 ].…”

“…Previous studies used different walking states to simulate the daily walking of older adults, such as walking with motor tasks [ 14 ], cognitive tasks [ 11 , 14 ], smartphone usage [ 15 ] and wearing smart glasses [ 16 ]. It was found that head-worn ‘smart glasses’ had adverse impacts on the gait dynamics of lateral position control [ 16 ]. Stepping over hurdles in complex conditions whilst wearing sunglasses led to slower speeds and a higher coefficient of variance compared with the case of not wearing sunglasses [ 17 ].…”

Head-Mounted and Hand-Held Displays Diminish the Effectiveness of Fall-Resisting Skills

“…If a cognitive task displayed on an HMD is processed during walking, the capability to perform both tasks will decrease [ 5 ]. Furthermore, smart glasses appear to induce conservative obstacle crossing strategies [ 6 ] and have been shown to negatively affect a person’s control of positioning in the lateral direction [ 7 ], which indicates a potential risk for falls. Whilst the causes of falls must be considered as multifactorial [ 8 ], divided attention, in dual-task situations when displays are used during walking, represents a significant potential hazard.…”