The characteristic comparison of the accelerometer and the gyroscope in the measurement of human body sway

Abstract

This study investigated the human body sway measuring instruments. An accelerometer and a gyroscope were used to examine patients with postural control related diseases in many studies. Some studies used either an accelerometer or a gyroscope attached to the head, chest, or waist to obtain the balance assessment parameters of body sway such as area, direction, etc. The purpose of this study is to identify the reliability between both sensors in human body sway analysis by assuming the human body sway as a simple pendulum model, and suggest an optimal measurement method using the acceleration and the gyroscope. The characteristic differences between the accelerometer and the gyroscope were illustrated, focusing mainly on the differences with respect to the position of the sensors. We confirmed that the magnitude, instead of three axis vector information, may be more useful in the body sway analysis.