ArticlesNoise-enhanced vibrotactile sensitivity in older adults, patients with stroke, and patients with diabetic neuropathy☆,☆☆,★,★★,♢,♢♢
Section snippets
Methods
Twelve healthy elderly subjects (6 men, 6 women; age range, 67-85y; mean, 74y), 5 patients with stroke (3 men, 2 women; age range, 24-64y; mean, 44y), and 8 patients with diabetic neuropathy (4 men, 4 women; age range, 53-77y; mean, 67y) participated in the study. The diagnoses of stroke and diabetic neuropathy were both made clinically, not by electrodiagnostic testing. Informed consent was obtained from each subject before their participation. This study was approved by the Boston University
Results
The detection threshold at the fingertip for the vibration stimulus with mechanical noise was lower than that for the vibration stimulus without mechanical noise in all 9 trials for all 12 elderly subjects. This effect for a representative elderly subject is shown in figure 4A.
Discussion
The results of the present study show that vibrotactile detection thresholds in older adults, patients with stroke, and patients with diabetic neuropathy can be significantly reduced by adding mechanical noise to the site of application of the vibratory stimuli. These novel findings suggest that age- and disease-related sensory loss may be reversible by exploiting stochastic resonance–type effects. The experiment's design reduced the possibility of subject bias because subjects were unaware of
Conclusion
This study showed that input noise can enhance sensory detection in healthy elderly people as well as in patients with central or peripheral nerve damage from stroke or diabetes. These findings are potentially important, insofar as impaired sensation leads not only to serious secondary medical complications, but also to impaired dexterity and coordination. Because sensation is an integral component of motor function, impaired sensation significantly hinders an individual's ability to perform
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Subashan Perera, PhD, for help with the statistical analyses.
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Cited by (151)
Entrainment of somatosensory beta and gamma oscillations accompany improvement in tactile acuity after periodic and aperiodic repetitive sensory stimulation
2022, International Journal of PsychophysiologyCitation Excerpt :However, previous behavioural and electrophysiological studies also provided evidence for the beneficial effects of stimulus variability. For example, vibrotactile noise applied to the fingertip improved tactile sensitivity in stroke patients (Enders et al., 2013; Liu et al., 2002). Moreover, cortico-muscular coherence increased at beta frequencies when vibrotactile noise was added to the fingertips in a visuomotor experiment (Trenado et al., 2014).
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2021, Somatosensory Feedback for NeuroprostheticsEffects of vibro-medical insoles with and without vibrations on balance control in diabetic patients with mild-to-moderate peripheral neuropathy
2020, Journal of BiomechanicsCitation Excerpt :Although the contribution of the SR mechanism into the improved tactile sensation is yet to be completely understood, two possible approaches have been proposed in this respect. The vibratory noise may enhance the dermal tissue vibration transmission by adding some mechanical energy to the vibro-tactile stimulus, or may affect the permeability of the ion channels of the receptor ending (Collins et al., 2003; Liu et al., 2002; Khaodhiar et al., 2003). A few studies have also shown that the application of subthreshold random noise can improve the balance in elderly, DPN, and stroke patients (Hijmans et al., 2008; Priplata et al., 2006; Wang and Yang, 2012).
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Supported by the US National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Partners HealthCare System Center for Innovative Minimally Invasive Therapy, a Teaching Nursing Home Award (grant no. AG04390), and Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center Grant (grant no. AG08812) from the National Institute on Aging, and the Argentinian Ministry of Education.
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No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the author(s) or upon any organization with which the author(s) is/are associated.
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Reprint requests to James J. Collins, PhD, Center for BioDynamics and Dept of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington St, Boston, MA 02215, e-mail: [email protected].
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