Background: Freezing of gait (FoG) is a treatment-resistant symptom of Parkinson disease (PD). Augmented reality (AR) cues have been investigated as a therapy for FoG, with inconclusive results from a limited array of AR constructs.
Objectives: Compare four modalities of a novel AR cue to physical and no-cue controls.
Methods: Presence of FoG in PD was required; exclusion criteria included dementia, severe vision loss, and significant gait-disrupting comorbidities. Participants completed six walking tasks, featuring different cueing conditions in a crossover fashion, in a holographic hallway displayed by an AR headset. A conventional physical cue was presented first, followed by other conditions in randomized order (hand-controlled AR cue, observer-controlled AR cue, eye-controlled AR cue, constant AR cue, no-cue control). Primary outcomes were FoG duration and incidence, manually annotated. Secondary outcomes included survey questions and gait parameters derived from IMUs.
Results: Thirty-six participants completed testing. The observer-controlled AR cue produced lower FoG duration than the no-cue, physical, and hand-controlled AR cue conditions (N = 36, p ≤ 0.006, Wilcoxon effect size (WES) ≥ 0.46). The constant cue reduced FoG incidence compared to all other conditions (N = 36, p ≤ 0.016, WES ≥ 0.40). Participants' preferred AR cues decreased FoG duration (N = 28, p ≤ 0.004, WES ≥ 0.48) and incidence (N = 28, p ≤ 0.022, WES ≥ 0.38) compared to controls. Differences in kinematic outcomes were negligible. Survey results indicated receptiveness toward AR cueing, with diversity in preferred cue activation modalities. No significant adverse events occurred.
Conclusions: AR cueing decreased FoG incidence and duration compared to controls. Efficacy of discrete cueing modalities likely depends on user intrinsic factors, such as preference.
Keywords: Augmented reality; Cue; FoG; Gait freezing; Parkinson’s disease.
© 2025 The Author(s).