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Auditory, tactile, and multimodal noise reduce balance variability.

Sam Carey1, Jessica M Ross2,3, Ramesh Balasubramaniam4

  • 1Sensorimotor Neuroscience Laboratory, Cognitive & Information Sciences, University of California, 5200 N Lake Road, Merced, CA, 95343, USA. scarey5@ucmerced.edu.

Experimental Brain Research
|March 24, 2023
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Summary

Adding auditory or tactile white noise can improve balance. This study found that combining both (multimodal noise) also stabilizes standing balance, similar to using one sensory input alone.

Keywords:
Auditory feedbackPostural swayTactile feedbackWhite noise

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Area of Science:

  • Biomechanics
  • Sensory Neuroscience

Background:

  • Auditory and somatosensory white noise are known to stabilize standing balance.
  • Previous research has demonstrated balance improvements with unimodal auditory or tactile noise stimulation.
  • The comparative effects of auditory versus tactile noise on balance remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effects of unimodal (auditory or tactile) and multimodal (auditory + tactile) white noise on postural sway.
  • To determine if multimodal sensory noise elicits similar balance stabilization responses compared to unimodal noise.

Main Methods:

  • Healthy young adults' postural sway was recorded using a wearable device.
  • Participants were exposed to continuous white noise via auditory, tactile, or combined (multimodal) stimulation.
  • Postural sway variability was analyzed across different frequency bands to differentiate between open-loop and feedback-driven sway.

Main Results:

  • Both unimodal auditory or tactile white noise and multimodal white noise significantly reduced postural sway variability.
  • These balance improvements were observed irrespective of visual input.
  • The effects of sensory noise on sway variability were consistent across both low (<0.3 Hz) and high (>0.3 Hz) frequency bands.

Conclusions:

  • Sensory white noise, whether unimodal or multimodal, effectively stabilizes standing balance by reducing sway variability.
  • The balance-stabilizing effects of sensory noise are robust and impact both exploratory and feedback-controlled mechanisms of postural control.
  • Future research should optimize sensory noise parameters and explore multimodal therapies for age-related balance deficits.