Audio enhancement of biomechanical impact data.

Abstract

Analysis and interpretation of impact data from a force transducer or accelerometer can be augmented and enhanced using audio playback. Trends and differences which may be difficult to identify using data imagery can be elucidated and reinforced by converting digital data from a force plate to an audio signal, which can then be played through a high‐quality speaker system. The audio stream can be processed using standard acoustical methods such as tempo and pitch shifting, which can emphasize frequencies and tone bursts for improved signal characterization. We apply audio enhancement to data from two separate biomechanical studies: (1) a drop landing experiment for the investigation of gender differences in impact upon landing and (2) an experiment for the investigation of impact differences between cleated and noncleated shoes on artificial turf. The continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is used to process data from a force plate in both studies. Results are compared using the semblance analysis approach described by Cooper and Cowan [“Comparing time series using wavelet‐based semblance analysis,” Computers Geosciences 34, 95–102 (2008)]. Interpretation of results is enhanced using speaker‐driven audio output synthesized from the CWT and semblance analysis.