Augmented Visuotactile Feedback Support Sensorimotor Synchronization Skill for Rehabilitation.

Augmented visual-audio feedback supports rhythmic motor performance in both sports training and sensorimotor synchronization practise. In home-based rehabilitation for minor stroke patients, training on a fine motor skill using rhythms not only helps to recover sophisticated motion ability but also increases their confidence and mental health recovery. Auditory information has been shown to have advantages for improving rhythmic motion performance, but it can be masked by environmental noise and may be intrusive to non-stakeholders. Under these circumstances, patients may be reluctant to practice actively due to difficulties hearing the auditory stimuli or through a concern for disturbing others. To address this issue, we explored an inconspicuous way of providing vibrotactile feedback through wristband. In order to investigate the general feasibility of a sensorimotor synchronization task, we conducted a preliminary user study with 16 healthy participants, and compared the visual-tactile feedback with visual-audio, visual-audio-tactile and visual-only feedback. Results showed that rhythmic motion accuracy with visual-tactile feedback has the equivalent facilitatory effect with visual-audio feedback. In addition, visual-tactile feedback supports smoother movements than the visual-audio feedback. In the future, after refinement with stroke patients, the system could support customization for different levels of sensorimotor synchronization training.