Don't get tripped up: Haptic modalities alter gait characteristics during obstacle crossing

The attentional capacity required of haptic modalities while obstacle crossing may limit their effectiveness. Therefore, this study examined the attentional demands of haptic modalities during obstacle crossing. Nineteen healthy young adults walked across a 10 m laboratory floor within two modality blocks using either: 1) light touch on a railing, or 2) pulling haptic anchors. Randomly dispersed within these blocks were trials without added haptic input and verbal reaction time (VRT) tasks. VRT was compared across the three walking conditions. Gait characteristics, obstacle crossing stability, and obstacle toe clearance were compared across the three walking conditions (normal walking, light touch walking, anchored walking) and 2 VRT conditions (absence vs. presence). VRTs did not differ according to walking conditions (p > .05). Step length variability for the normal walking condition was significantly greater than for both the light touch and anchored walking conditions (p = .026). Toe clearance for the trail leg was less during light touch than normal walking (p = .020). The presence of the VRT resulted in greater toe clearance for both lead (p = .018) and trail limbs (F(2,34) = 8.053, p = .011). Neither haptic modality required significantly increased attentional demand; however, light touch walking results in less obstacle toe clearance. Haptic modalities likely provide greater benefit than risk to users during obstacle crossing.