LOUDy Bird - to fulfill the therapeutic needs of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients
Date:
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, causing tremor, impairment in movement, balance, speech, and swallowing difficulty, leading to degradation of patients’ quality of life. Research shows that specific exercise programs such as movement and speech exercise can significantly ameliorate PD symptoms and slow down disease progression. However, these exercise routines are often physically challenging and mentally exhausting for PD patients which would discourage them from completing such routines. Our project aims to make these exercise routines a lot more fun while tailoring them to each patients’ specific needs and abilities. We showcase this by implementing a clinically-effective speech improvement program named LSVT LOUD in a voice-controlled version of the famous mobile game Flappy Bird - we called it LOUDy Bird. Three main components of the program- 1) increasing speech volume, 2) widen voice frequency range, and 3) improving speech accuracy, are all smoothly incorporated into the game mechanics so that the patient can enjoy all the clinical benefits of the exercise while having fun. Game difficulty and parameter choice can be flexibly adapted to each patient’s ability and progress to motivate them to complete the exercise routine regularly. The game is flexible to incorporate other forms of therapeutic exercise programs using different inputs in future development. Upon consent, detailed reports of performance and improvements would be available for care providers and for future research. We see this as a great example of combining technology and scientific research to sustainably help patients with rehabilitation and improve their quality of life.