Observing the use of an input device for rehabilitation purposes

Abstract

We designed and developed a vision-based computer interface which works with head movements. The system was implemented in a centre for users with cerebral palsy and they used it in contexts related with recreation or with education. During this process, it was observed that the continued use of the interface with a set of training tasks may act as a physical and cognitive rehabilitation tool and complement users’ rehabilitation therapy. We comment on five case studies of users who have worked with the interface for five months and whose qualitative outcomes, observed by the therapists who accompanied them, were positive; specifically there was improvement in work posture, head control, increased endurance, decreased involuntary movements and improved spatial orientation. The case studies also showed the need to supervise the users’ work in order to achieve these aims, along with the importance of motivation and active, voluntary participation of users in the rehabilitation process.

Keywords:

• human–computer interaction
• vision-based interface
• human factors
• disabled users
• motor and cognitive rehabilitation

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Erratum

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and all the therapists, carers and users from ASPACE for their support, effort and time. This work was supported in part by FRIVIG. A1/037910/11 Formación de Recursos Humanos e Investigación en el Área de Visión por Computador e Informática Gráfica, granted by MAEC-AECID (Programa de Cooperación Interuniversitaria e Investigación Científica de España e Iberoamérica), 28/2011 (Ajudes grup competitiu UGIVIA) granted by the Govern de les Illes Balears and TIN2010-16576. Modelos de Interacción basada en Visión en Interfaces Gestuales, granted by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Gobierno de España (Programa Nacional de Investigación Fundamental No Orientada).

Notes

1. Six users were selected to analyse accessibility. The sixth user was the ‘control user’ as he had no problems accessing the computer with a standard mouse and keyboard. Therapists did not observe any change regarding physical or cognitive rehabilitation.