A feasibility study was conducted to investigate the use of a wearable gait analysis system for classifying gait speed using a low-cost wearable camera in a semi-structured indoor setting. Data were collected from 19 participants who wore the system during indoor walk sequences at varying self-determined speeds (slow, medium, and fast). Gait parameters using this system were compared with parameters obtained from a vest comprising of a single triaxial accelerometer and from a marker-based optical motion-capture system. Computer-vision techniques and signal processing methods were used to generate frequency-domain gait parameters from each gait-recording device, and those parameters were analysed to determine the effectiveness of the different measurement systems in discriminating gait speed. Results indicate that the authors' low-cost, portable, vision-based system can be effectively used for in-home gait analysis.
Keywords: accelerometers; cameras; computer vision; frequency-domain gait parameters; gait analysis; gait-recording device; image motion analysis; in-home gait analysis; indoor walk sequences; marker-based optical motion-capture system; portable vision-based system; triaxial accelerometer; wearable camera; wearable gait analysis system.