Survey-based identification of design requirements and constraints for a wearable tremor suppression device

Yue Zhou; Devin Box; Kenneth G Hardy; Mary E Jenkins; Jayne Garland; Michael D Naish; Ana Luisa Trejos

doi:10.1177/20556683221094480

Survey-based identification of design requirements and constraints for a wearable tremor suppression device

J Rehabil Assist Technol Eng. 2022 May 7:9:20556683221094480. doi: 10.1177/20556683221094480. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.

Authors

Yue Zhou¹, Devin Box², Kenneth G Hardy³, Mary E Jenkins⁴, Jayne Garland⁵, Michael D Naish^{1

6

7}, Ana Luisa Trejos^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ School of Biomedical Engineering, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
² School of Kinesiology, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
³ Ivey Business School, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁴ Movement Disorders Program, Clinical Neurological Sciences, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁵ Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁶ Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁷ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Western University, London, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Introduction: Parkinsonian tremor has severely impacted the lives of 65% of individuals with Parkinson's disease, and nearly 25% do not respond to traditional treatments. Although wearable tremor suppression devices (WTSDs) have become a promising alternative approach, this technology is still in the early stages of development, and no studies have reported the stakeholders' opinions on this technology and their desired design requirements.

Methods: An online survey was distributed to affected Canadians and Canadian movement disorder specialists (MDS) to acquire information on demographics, the current state of treatments, opinions on the WTSDs, and the desired design requirements of future WTSDs.

Results: A total of 101 affected individuals and 24 MDS completed the survey. It was found that both groups are generally open to using WTSDs to manage tremor. The most important design requirement to end users is the adaptability to lifestyle, followed by weight and size, accurate motion, comfort, safety, quick response, and cost. Lastly, most of the participants (65%) think that the device should cost under $500.

Conclusions: The findings from this study can be used as guidelines for the development of future WTSDs, such that the future generations could be evaluated and accepted by the end users.

Keywords: Parkinson’s disease; Wearable tremor suppression device; design requirements; medical informatics; movement disorder; survey.