A Novel Ultrasound System for Contactless Quantitative Measurements of Finger Tapping: A Feasibility Study

This paper introduces a new system for non-contact hand movement sensing, utilizing ultrasound sensors with millimeter precision. Acting akin to a sonar, the system detects pressure waves reflected from the moving hand. Due to the high spatio/temporal resolution of the system, the proposed solution has been tested for finger tapping monitoring. Finger tapping serves as a key clinical test for diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease, where symptoms like bradykinesia, rigidity, and tremor are focal points of investigation. Currently, clinicians visually assess bradykinesia by observing subjects' finger tapping gestures, rating the severity qualitatively. The idea is to provide a quantitative assessment of the tapping providing a support for diagnosis. In detail, through subsequent time/frequency analysis and specialized processing, tapping peaks are identified, enabling evaluation of tapping stability by measuring interpeak distances. This feasibility study presents the prototype and initial measurement findings.