Real-Time Detection of Spatial Disorientation in Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia.

Background: Detecting manifestations of spatial disorientation in real time is a key requirement for adaptive assistive navigation systems for people with dementia.

Objective: To identify predictive patterns of spatial disorientation in cognitively impaired people during unconstrained locomotion behavior in an urban environment.

Methods: Accelerometric data and GPS records were gathered during a wayfinding task along a route of about 1 km in 15 people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or clinically probable Alzheimer's disease dementia (13 completers).