Literature review on assistive technologies for people with Parkinson's disease
Subek Acharya, Sansrit Paudel
TL;DR
The paper surveys assistive technologies for Parkinson's disease, covering wearables, cueing devices, exoskeletons, robotics, VR, voice/video tools, and emerging IoT/AI approaches. It finds robust evidence for motor-symptom improvements such as freezing of gait, gait, and balance, while non-motor symptom coverage lags behind. The study highlights usability, real-world feasibility, and privacy as major hurdles and identifies AI, IoT, and socially assistive robots as promising directions needing further validation. Overall, ATs hold substantial transformative potential for PD management, particularly if future work emphasizes personalized, accessible, and clinically validated implementations.
Abstract
Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that significantly impacts motor and non-motor functions. There is currently no treatment that slows or stops neurodegeneration in PD. In this context, assistive technologies (ATs) have emerged as vital tools to aid people with Parkinson's and significantly improve their quality of life. This review explores a broad spectrum of ATs, including wearable and cueing devices, exoskeletons, robotics, virtual reality, voice and video-assisted technologies, and emerging innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and the Internet of Things (IoT). The review highlights ATs' significant role in addressing motor symptoms such as freezing of gait (FOG) and gait and posture disorders. However, it also identifies significant gaps in addressing non-motor symptoms such as sleep dysfunction and mental health. Similarly, the research identifies substantial potential in the further implementation of deep learning, AI, IOT technologies. Overall, this review highlights the transformative potential of AT in PD management while identifying gaps that future research should address to ensure personalized, accessible, and effective solutions.