Development and evaluation of a prior-to-impact fall event detection algorithm

Automatic fall event detection has attracted research attention recently for its potential application in fall alarming system and wearable fall injury prevention system. Nevertheless, existing fall detection research is facing various limitations. The current study aimed to develop and validate a new fall detection algorithm using 2-D information (i.e., trunk angular velocity and trunk angle). Ten healthy elderly were involved in a laboratory study. Sagittal trunk angular kinematics was measured using inertial measurement unit during slip-induced backward falls and a variety of daily activities. The new algorithm was, on average, able to detect backward falls prior to impact, with 100% sensitivity, 95.65% specificity, and 255 ms response time. Therefore, it was concluded that the new fall detection algorithm was able to effectively detect falls during motion for the elderly population.