title: Finger taps movement acceleration measurement system for quantitative diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop a finger taps acceleration measurement system for the quantitative diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. The system was composed of two 3-axis piezoelectric element accelerometers, a pair of touch sensors made of thin stainless steel sheets, an analog-digital(AD) converter and a personal computer (PC). Fingerstalls,with these sensors, were attached to subject's index finger and thumb. The acceleration and output of the touch sensors were recorded using the PC during the finger taps movements. Intervals between the single finger taps movements were calculated from the measured output of the touch sensors. Velocities during the single finger taps movements were calculated by integrating the measured acceleration. The amplitudes were calculated by integrating the velocities. The standard deviation of the single finger taps intervals, average of maximum single finger taps velocities and average of maximum single finger taps amplitudes were calculated from them. They were used as features for the quantitative diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. The developed system was used to conduct finger taps tests employing 27 normal subjects and 16 Parkinson's diseases subjects. The subjects were asked to execute continuous finger taps movement for 60 s. It was shown that the acceleration and output of the touch sensors could be measured and the features could be extracted.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. okuno@ist.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Ryuhei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Okuno
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yokoe
authors.forename: Kenzo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akazawa
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: Saburo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakoda
mesh_terms: D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013933:Thumb / Q000502:physiology