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HvA on Lowlands Festival: how are your movements effected by alcohol?

Carlijn Schepers,
19 juli 2017 - 15:52

Are you going to Lowlands Festival next month? Then HvA researcher Aukje de Vrijer needs your help. She wants to ‘develop sensors that can predict the risk of falling for the elderly’ by studying the effects of alcohol on movement on the festival visitors.

What do the movements of a drunk person have to do with the elderly?
‘Older people with a higher risk of falling as well as those under the influence alcohol have something in common: both have changed movements. We want to study these changes so in the future we can recognise them with sensors. If these sensors can spot differences in how older people move, for example when they become less stable, we can help them before they fall instead of after.’

Do drunk people move the same way as unstable elderly then?
‘Not exactly the same, but the enormous amount of information we expect to gather at Lowlands will definitely be useful. Also, it’s difficult to measure changes in the movements of elderly because they occur very slowly whereas alcohol has an acute effect.’

What can participants expect?
‘Assignments of all sorts, like a balancing test and a walking analysis. We’ll analyse participants’ movements with a 3D camera.’

Do they need to be drunk?
‘No, and maybe it’s even better if they’re not. We want to record the variations in people’s movements, so sober works too. Besides, in one test we’ll simulate drunkenness so if a subject is already drunk it might be a little too much.’