Tripathi Anu, Wan Yang, Malave Sushant, Turcsanyi Sheila, Fawzi Alice Lux, Brooks Alison, Kesari Haneesh, Snedden Traci, Ferrazzano Peter, Franck Christian, Carlsen Rika Wright
Department of Engineering, Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA, USA.
School of Engineering, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2025 May 16. doi: 10.1007/s10439-025-03746-7.
Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) are a highly prevalent condition with heterogeneous outcomes between individuals. A key factor governing brain tissue deformation and the risk of mTBI is the rotational kinematics of the head. Instrumented mouthguards are a widely accepted method for measuring rotational head motions, owing to their robust sensor-skull coupling. However, wearing mouthguards is not feasible in all situations, especially for long-term data collection. Therefore, alternative wearable devices are needed. In this study, we present an improved design and data processing scheme for an instrumented headband.
Our instrumented headband utilizes an array of inertial measurement units (IMUs) and a new data processing scheme based on continuous wavelet transforms to address sources of error in the IMU measurements. The headband performance was evaluated in the laboratory on an anthropomorphic test device, which was impacted with a soccer ball to replicate soccer heading.
When comparing the measured peak rotational velocities (PRV) and peak rotational accelerations (PRA) between the reference sensors and the headband for impacts to the front of the head, the correlation coefficients (r) were 0.80 and 0.63, and the normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) values were 0.20 and 0.28, respectively. However, when considering all impact locations, r dropped to 0.42 and 0.34 and NRMSE increased to 0.5 and 0.41 for PRV and PRA, respectively.
This new instrumented headband improves upon previous headband designs in reconstructing the rotational head kinematics resulting from frontal soccer ball impacts, providing a potential alternative to instrumented mouthguards.
轻度创伤性脑损伤（mTBI）是一种非常普遍的疾病，个体之间的预后存在异质性。控制脑组织变形和mTBI风险的一个关键因素是头部的旋转运动学。由于其强大的传感器与颅骨耦合，仪器化护齿是一种广泛接受的测量头部旋转运动的方法。然而，在所有情况下佩戴护齿都不可行，特别是对于长期数据收集。因此，需要替代的可穿戴设备。在本研究中，我们提出了一种改进的仪器化头带设计和数据处理方案。
我们的仪器化头带利用一系列惯性测量单元（IMU）和基于连续小波变换的新数据处理方案来解决IMU测量中的误差来源。头带性能在实验室中的拟人测试设备上进行评估，该设备用足球撞击以模拟足球头球动作。
当比较参考传感器和头带在头部前部受到撞击时测量的峰值旋转速度（PRV）和峰值旋转加速度（PRA）时，相关系数（r）分别为0.80和0.63，归一化均方根误差（NRMSE）值分别为0.20和0.28。然而，当考虑所有撞击位置时，PRV和PRA的r分别降至0.42和0.34，NRMSE分别增加到0.5和0.41。
这种新型仪器化头带在重建因足球正面撞击导致的头部旋转运动学方面比以前的头带设计有所改进，为仪器化护齿提供了一种潜在的替代方案。
