JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies

People with Parkinson disease (PD) often report low volume and reduced intelligibility of speech. Common household devices that use voice-assisted technology (VAT) require users to speak slowly, clearly, and loudly for the technology to function. For people with PD, this can be challenging, but this also suggests that VAT may have potential as a therapeutic tool. While VAT is an emerging health care technology, it is important to better understand the thoughts and experiences of people with PD who are already using it despite having speech and voice difficulties.

Hearing loss affects 20% of the global population, including 250 million suffering from chronic suppurative otitis media, which can present challenges for conventional hearing aids due to ear discharge. Although assistive technology for hearing is available in high income settings, in low-income settings provision is poor due to high costs, and low availability of audiology services, reaching approximately 3% of those who could benefit.

Rehabilitation technologies can support recovery and rehabilitation outside clinical settings. However, their adoption remains challenging. Factors such as ease of use, perceived benefits, and social influence play a role, but little is known about how rehabilitation patients perceive their relative importance.

Introduction: Telerehabilitation involves the delivery of rehabilitation services over a distance through communication technologies. In contrast to traditional in-person rehabilitation, telerehabilitation can help overcome barriers including geographic distance and facility use. There is evidence to suggest that telerehabilitation can lead to increased patient engagement and adherence to treatment plans. However, limited research exists on the association of telerehabilitation with adverse events, potentially hindering its broader adoption and utilization in healthcare.

Patients and healthcare providers can use playful digital games in a hospital setting to increase motivation and distract patients during painful procedures. Future digital interventions for paediatric hospitalisation must do more than distract; they must also encourage socialisation and promote physical activity, e.g. by exploring novel interactive approaches to boost motivation.

Background. People with disabilities are a priority population for health services research. People who are blind/low vision (B/LV) are a segment of this priority population, who experience difficulty to accessing healthcare facilities due to architectural and navigational barriers. These barriers persist despite disability civil rights law in the U.S.

COVID-19 has given impetus to an already growing trend around the use of ambient assisted living (AAL) technologies to support frail older adults who live alone. However, the challenge is that systematic research on the long-term use of AAL technologies remains in its nascent stages, leaving gaps in the understanding of the predictors that contribute to the routine embedding of AAL technologies in older adults’ care.

The Gloreha® is a robotic device that enhances conventional rehabilitation for improving upper extremity function after stroke, but comprehensive evidence on its effectiveness is still lacking.

With the rapid advancement of technology, using wearable devices and mobile health (mHealth) apps to monitor and promote physical activity (PA) has become increasingly popular among individuals with various chronic conditions. However, such work remains limited among individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI), especially those who use a manual wheelchair for mobility.

Individuals with spinal cord injury or disease (SCI/D) experience disproportionately high rates of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), which are often complicated by atypical symptoms and delayed diagnoses. Patient-centered tools, like the Urinary Symptom Questionnaires for Neurogenic Bladder (USQNB), have been developed to support symptom assessment yet remain underutilized. Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, may offer a more usable approach to improving symptom management by providing real-time, tailored health information directly to patients.

Falls among older adults are a significant public health concern, often leading to severe injuries, decreased quality of life, and substantial healthcare costs. Smart wearable technologies for balance rehabilitation present a promising avenue for addressing the falls epidemic, capable of providing detailed objective movement data, engaging visuals, and real-time feedback. With the recent and rapid evolution of innovative technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR), and motion tracking, there is a need to evaluate the market to identify the most effective and accessible smart balance systems currently available.

An accurate tongue strength and endurance assessment is necessary for pediatric dysphagia. TongueFit is a new portable orofacial manometer for measuring tongue strength and endurance and a game-based training app for children.