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. 2022 May 7:9:20556683221094480.
doi: 10.1177/20556683221094480. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.

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

Yue Zhou  1 , Devin Box  2 , Kenneth G Hardy  3 , Mary E Jenkins  4 , Jayne Garland  5 , Michael D Naish  1   6   7 , Ana Luisa Trejos  1   7
Affiliations

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

Yue Zhou et al. J Rehabil Assist Technol Eng. .

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
A wearable tremor suppression glove developed in. It suppresses tremor in the index finger, the thumb, and the wrist using mechanical loading.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Influence of nine factors on the opinions of the individuals with PD on WTSDs. a. Each row presents the quantified influence of each factor on the participants’ opinions on the concept of WTSDs (Left) and the opinions on trying a WTSD (Right). The first row represents the factor age, followed by the year since diagnosis, sex, their awareness of WTSDs, the overall satisfaction with their current treatment, the Effectiveness of their current treatment on managing tremor, the difficulty of managing treatment in daily life, the side effects of their current treatment, and the cost of their current treatment. The y axis of each bar graph shows the frequency count, and the x axis shows the options of each independent/explanatory variable. The numbers above each set of bar graphs present the percentage distribution of the answers. The factors that statistically associate (p <.05 ) with the opinions on the WTSDs are labeled by “*”. b. The cell colors and the numbers indicate the quantified strength of the statistical association.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
a. Seven design requirements ranked by the respondents with PD. b. Distribution of the acceptable price of a WTSD.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
a. MDS rated drawbacks of the current WTSDs that have restricted the acceptance by end users. b. The influence of the MDS' opinion on whether they will recommend WTSDs to their patients (left) and whether they will participate in WTSD-related studies (right). The y axis of each bar graph shows the frequency count, and the x axis shows the options of each independent/explanatory variable, i.e., Positive, Neutral, and Negative. The numbers above each set of bar graphs present the percentage distribution of the answers. Statistically‑significant associations (p <.05 ) are labeled by “*”.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Seven design requirements ranked by the movement disorder specialists respondents.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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