Lubetzky Anat V, Wu Yi, Lin Delong, Olsen Alvaro F, Yagnik Anjali, Harel Daphna, Roginska Agnieszka
Department of Physical Therapy, New York University, New York, USA.
Physical Therapy Department, NYU, 380 2nd Ave 4th floor, New York, NY, 10010, USA.
Exp Brain Res. 2024 Dec 23;243(1):32. doi: 10.1007/s00221-024-06983-9.
We examined the impact of auditory stimuli and their methods on a dynamic balance task performance. Twenty-four young adults wore an HTC Vive headset and dodged a virtual ball to the right or left based on its color (blue to the left, red to the right, and vice versa). We manipulated the environment by introducing congruent (auditory stimuli from the correct direction) or incongruent (auditory stimuli played randomly from either side) and comparing a multimodal (visual and congruent auditory stimuli) to unimodal (visual or auditory stimuli) presentation. We tested four apparatuses: loudspeakers, headphones, passthrough, (wearing headphones while auditory stimuli come from loudspeakers) and room simulation (externalization via headphones). We quantified reaction time (RT) and accuracy (choosing the correct direction to dodge) from the head movement. We hypothesized that the weight of the headset will slow RT, and that externalization of the auditory stimuli will make it more usable when no visual cues are provided. Interestingly, both hypotheses were refuted. In silent conditions, RT was faster with headphones compared to loudspeakers, but this difference disappeared when auditory stimuli were introduced. Participants used congruent auditory stimuli to improve accuracy but disregarded incongruent auditory stimuli across all apparatuses except for room simulation. In conclusion, this study confirmed that healthy young adults can use congruent auditory stimuli to enhance accuracy and disregard incongruent auditory stimuli such that accuracy is not harmed. RT was either faster or the same with headphones compared to loudspeakers. Notably, this specific room simulation did not enhance performance.
我们研究了听觉刺激及其方式对动态平衡任务表现的影响。24名年轻成年人佩戴HTC Vive头戴式设备，根据虚拟球的颜色（蓝色向左，红色向右，反之亦然）向左或向右躲避虚拟球。我们通过引入一致的（来自正确方向的听觉刺激）或不一致的（从任意一侧随机播放的听觉刺激）来操纵环境，并将多模态（视觉和一致的听觉刺激）与单模态（视觉或听觉刺激）呈现进行比较。我们测试了四种设备：扬声器、耳机、通透模式（当听觉刺激来自扬声器时佩戴耳机）和房间模拟（通过耳机实现声音外置）。我们通过头部运动量化反应时间（RT）和准确性（选择正确的躲避方向）。我们假设头戴式设备的重量会减慢反应时间，并且在没有视觉线索的情况下，听觉刺激的外置会使其更易于使用。有趣的是，这两个假设都被推翻了。在安静条件下，与扬声器相比，使用耳机时反应时间更快，但引入听觉刺激后这种差异消失了。除房间模拟外，在所有设备中，参与者都利用一致的听觉刺激来提高准确性，但忽略不一致的听觉刺激。总之，本研究证实，健康的年轻成年人可以利用一致的听觉刺激来提高准确性，并忽略不一致的听觉刺激，从而不会损害准确性。与扬声器相比，使用耳机时反应时间要么更快，要么相同。值得注意的是，这种特定的房间模拟并没有提高表现。
