Effects of Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation on Step Times and Trunk Acceleration while Walking

Abstract

Changes in step time and trunk acceleration, at the beginning and during the steady-state phase of walking, combined with rhythmic auditory stimulation were examined in healthy adults. [Participants and Methods] Indoor level walking was performed by 17 healthy adults under two conditions: Condition 1 consisted of 20 free steps of comfortable walking; and Condition 2 consisted of walking with the initial contact matched to a rhythmic auditory stimulus based on the average step time of the 20 steps of Condition 1. The walking was divided into 4 periods of 5 steps from the start of walking. [Results] During phase Ⅰ (steps 1-5), the step time was shorter in Condition 2 than in Condition 1, and the peak values of trunk acceleration to the left and right, and up and down, and the coefficient of variation of trunk accelerations to the front and down increased in Condition 2. [Conclusion] The results suggest that when presented with rhythmic auditory stimuli at the same tempo as that of free walking, it takes about 5 steps for normal subjects to adapt their gait to the rhythmic auditory stimuli.