Development and evaluation of reliability of an auditory feedback device using a foot switch for the pressure sensor

Abstract

The gait during clearance becomes abnormal at the time of its disappearance due to a disturbance in the sensation of the leg. To address this, an auditory feedback device that uses a foot switch to compensate for the lack of feeling was developed. The equipment can be set up to generate the Japanese syllable names “I (Do)”, “II (Re)”, and “III (Mi)” as well as provide feedback when a sound occurs, at the time of plantar grounding. The reliability of the foot switch was examined in this study, and it was found that the intraclass reliability was that of a 21.3±0.4 year-old person, when investigated on 27 healthy persons (13 men and 14 women) comprising 54 legs. The interclass reliability achieved was that of a 21.2±0.4 year-old person when investigated on 14 healthy persons (7 men and 7 women) comprising 28 legs. The foot switch was stuck on the heel and first-toe ball, and one step time and the plantar grounding time for six walking cycles were measured at a comfortable speed, after which the reliability of the device was examined. The intraclass and interclass reliability values demonstrated high correlation coefficients equal to or greater than 0.800. The usability and reliability of the developed auditory feedback equipment were verified through this study.