VRx@Home protocol: A virtual reality at-home intervention for persons living with dementia and their care partners.

Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) technology is increasingly used by researchers and healthcare professionals as a therapeutic intervention to improve the quality of life of persons living with dementia (PLwD). However, most VR interventions to date have mainly been explored in long-term or community care settings, with fewer being explored at home. Setting is important, given that the majority of PLwD live at home and are cared for by their family care partners.

Realistic dual-task listening-while-balancing in older adults with normal hearing and hearing loss with and without hearing aids.

Age-related hearing loss is a risk factor for mobility problems and falls, possibly due to poor access to spatial sounds or the higher allocation of attention required to listen, thereby reducing cognitive resources to support mobility. Introducing stabilizing spatial sounds or reducing cognitive load through hearing aids could possibly improve balance performance; however, evidence is mixed. Few studies have evaluated the effects of hearing aids and spatial sounds on balance during realistic, multisensory, dual-tasking conditions.

Translating the Interplay of Cognition and Physical Performance in COPD and Interstitial Lung Disease: Meeting Report and Literature Review.

Topic Importance: Cognitive and physical limitations are common in individuals with chronic lung diseases, but their interactions with physical function and activities of daily living are not well characterized. Understanding these interactions and potential contributors may provide insights on disability and enable more tailored rehabilitation strategies.

Review Findings: This review summarizes a 2-day meeting of patient partners, clinicians, researchers, and lung associations to discuss the interplay between cognitive and physical function in people with chronic lung diseases.

Concussion can increase the risk of visually induced motion sickness.

Concussion can lead to various symptoms such as balance problems, memory impairments, dizziness, and/or headaches. It has been previously suggested that during self-motion relevant tasks, individuals with concussion may rely heavily on visual information to compensate for potentially less reliable vestibular inputs and/or problems with multisensory integration. As such, concussed individuals may also be more sensitive to other visually-driven sensations such as visually induced motion sickness (VIMS).

Beyond the Eye: Multisensory Contributions to the Sensation of Illusory Self-Motion (Vection).

Vection is typically defined as the embodied illusion of self-motion in the absence of real physical movement through space. Vection can occur in real-life situations (e.g.

Effects of the BalanCI on Working Memory and Balance in Children and Young Adults With Cochleovestibular Dysfunction.

Objectives: This study aimed to: (1) determine the interaction between cognitive load and balance in children and young adults with bilateral cochleovestibular dysfunction who use bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) and (2) determine the effect of an auditory balance prosthesis (the BalanCI) on this interaction. Many (20 to 70%) children with sensorineural hearing loss experience some degree of vestibular loss, leading to poorer balance. Poor balance could have effects on cognitive resource allocation which might be alleviated by the BalanCI as it translates head-referenced cues into electrical pulses delivered through the CI.

Feasibility of a Home-Based Cognitive-Physical Exercise Program in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Protocol for a Feasibility and Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive condition associated with physical and cognitive impairments contributing to difficulty in performing activities of daily living (ADLs) that require dual tasking (eg, walking and talking). Despite evidence showing that cognitive decline occurs among patients with COPD and may contribute to functional limitations and decreased health-related quality of life (HRQL), pulmonary rehabilitation continues to focus mainly on physical training (ie, aerobic and strength exercises). An integrated cognitive and physical training program compared to physical training alone may be more effective in increasing dual-tasking ability among people living with COPD, leading to greater improvements in performance of ADLs and HRQL.

Evaluating the use of a balance prosthesis during balance perturbations in children and young adults with cochleovestibular dysfunction.

Study objectives were to: (1) quantify stability in children and young adults using cochlear implants with concurrent cochleovestibular dysfunction (CI-V) during balance perturbations and (2) to assess effects of an auditory head-referencing device (BalanCI) on their stability. The BalanCI provides auditory feedback via cochlear implants to cue posture and potentially avoid falling in children with CI-V. It was hypothesized that children and young adults with CI-V respond with larger movements to floor perturbations than typically-developing peers (controls) and that BalanCI use decreases these movements.

Multisensory visual-vestibular training improves visual heading estimation in younger and older adults.

Self-motion perception (e.g., when walking/driving) relies on the integration of multiple sensory cues including visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive signals.

Enhanced vection in older adults: Evidence for age-related effects in multisensory vection experiences.

The illusion of self-motion (vection) is a multisensory phenomenon elicited by visual, auditory, tactile, or other sensory cues. Aging is often associated with changes in sensory acuity, visual motion perception, and multisensory integration, processes which may influence vection perception. However, age-related differences in vection have received little study to date.

Automated Vehicles for People With Dementia: A "Tremendous Potential" That "Has Ways to go"-Reports of a Qualitative Study.

Background And Objectives: The prospect of automated vehicles (AVs) has generated excitement among the public and the research community about their potential to sustain the safe driving of people with dementia. However, no study to date has assessed the views of people with dementia on whether AVs may address their driving challenges.

Research Design And Methods: This mixed-methods study included two phases, completed by nine people with dementia.

Age-related changes to vestibular heave and pitch perception and associations with postural control.

Falls are a common cause of injury in older adults (OAs), and age-related declines across the sensory systems are associated with increased falls risk. The vestibular system is particularly important for maintaining balance and supporting safe mobility, and aging has been associated with declines in vestibular end-organ functioning. However, few studies have examined potential age-related differences in vestibular perceptual sensitivities or their association with postural stability.

Virtual reality to promote wellbeing in persons with dementia: A scoping review.

Virtual Reality (VR) technologies have increasingly been considered potentially valuable tools in dementia-related research and could serve as non-pharmacological therapy to improve quality of life (QoL) and wellbeing for persons with dementia (PwD). In this scoping review, we summarize peer-reviewed articles published up to Jan-21, 2021, on the use of VR to promote wellbeing in PwD. Eighteen manuscripts (reporting on 19 studies) met the inclusion criteria, with a majority published in the past 2 years.

Can Automated Vehicles Be Useful to Persons Living With Dementia? The Perspectives of Care Partners of People Living With Dementia.

Background And Objectives: Driving cessation is a complex challenge with significant emotional and health implications for people with dementia, which also affects their family care partners. Automated vehicles (AVs) could potentially be used to delay driving cessation and its adverse consequences for people with dementia and their care partners. Yet, no study to date has investigated whether care partners consider AVs to be potentially useful for people with dementia.

Virtual Hand Illusion in younger and older adults.

Introduction: Embodiment involves experiencing ownership over our body and localizing it in space and is informed by multiple senses (visual, proprioceptive and tactile). Evidence suggests that embodiment and multisensory integration may change with older age. The Virtual Hand Illusion (VHI) has been used to investigate multisensory contributions to embodiment, but has never been evaluated in older adults.

Functional Consequences of Poor Binaural Hearing in Development: Evidence From Children With Unilateral Hearing Loss and Children Receiving Bilateral Cochlear Implants.

Poor binaural hearing in children was hypothesized to contribute to related cognitive and academic deficits. Children with unilateral hearing have normal hearing in one ear but no access to binaural cues. Their cognitive and academic deficits could be unique from children receiving bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) at young ages who have poor access to spectral cues and impaired binaural sensitivity.

Vestibular Perceptual Thresholds in Older Adults With and Without Age-related Hearing Loss.

Objectives: Older adults with age-related hearing loss (ARHL) are at greater risk of falling and have greater mobility problems than older adults with normal hearing (NH). The underlying cause of these associations remains unclear. One possible reason is that age-related declines in the vestibular system could parallel those observed in the auditory system within the same individuals.

Multisensory Effects on Illusory Self-Motion (Vection): the Role of Visual, Auditory, and Tactile Cues.

A critical component to many immersive experiences in virtual reality (VR) is vection, defined as the illusion of self-motion. Traditionally, vection has been described as a visual phenomenon, but more recent research suggests that vection can be influenced by a variety of senses. The goal of the present study was to investigate the role of multisensory cues on vection by manipulating the availability of visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli in a VR setting.

Perceptions of Audio-Visual Impact Events in Younger and Older Adults.

Previous studies have examined whether audio-visual integration changes in older age, with some studies reporting age-related differences and others reporting no differences. Most studies have either used very basic and ambiguous stimuli (e.g.

Long term measures of vestibulo-ocular reflex function in high level male gymnasts and its possible role during context specific rotational tasks.

In a prior publication, we described a previously unknown eye movement phenomenon during the execution of actively performed multiaxial rotations in high level gymnasts. This phenomenon was consistently observed during the phase of fast free flight rotations and was marked by a prolonged and complete suppression of nystagmus and gaze stabilizing "environment referenced eye movements" (EREM; such as the vestibulo-ocular reflex, optokinetic reflex, smooth pursuit and others). Instead, these eye movements were coupled with intersegmental body movements.

Older adults' acceptance of fully automated vehicles: Effects of exposure, driving style, age, and driving conditions.

Automated vehicles are anticipated to have benefits for older adults in maintaining their mobility and autonomy. These anticipated benefits can only be realized if this technology is accepted and thus used by older adults. However, it remains unclear how certain factors affect older adults' acceptance of automated vehicles.

The Effects of Hearing Loss on Balance: A Critical Review.

Recent epidemiological findings of associations between hearing loss (HL) and poorer mobility and higher falls risk have increased the demand for ecologically valid experimental research to determine the potential mechanisms underlying human hearing-balance relationships. This review provides an overview of the laboratory-based approaches to studying human balance, identifies crucial factors that should be considered to improve the ecological validity of hearing-balance research, and provides a critical review of the scientific literature to date on the effects of HL on balance. Most present studies can be subdivided into those that examine balance changes due to the effects of (1) auditory suppression in individuals with normal hearing, (2) HL with and without hearing aids, and (3) cochlear implants in children and adults.