Contactless evaluation of balancing ability based on 3D camera

• A 3D camera-based method is proposed for balancing ability evaluation. • Facial spatial position is used to calculate the sway of center of mass. • The method is compared with reference method in time and frequency domain. • The comparation results showed the method has great promise for balancing ability. Balance ability is important for the early assessment and screening of nervous and motor system diseases. The balance assessment methods commonly used in clinical practice have some shortcomings such as non-objective evaluation or expensive equipment. In response to the restrictions, we explored to assess the balance ability according the sway of head used a 3D camera. In this study, the 3D facial video signals and plantar pressure values of the subjects in the standing posture were simultaneously recorded, then the sway of center of mass is estimated from the video recordings, the simultaneously center of pressure is calculated as reference value from the plantar pressure. The comparation results in time and frequency domain confirmed that the change of center of mass position estimated from camera and the reference values measured by force platform had significant correlation, and the two methods had a high degree of agreement. This study indicate that the camera-based method has great promise for contactless evaluation of static balancing ability.