Abstract
In blind football, players predict the sound location of a ball to underpin the success of ball trapping. It is currently unknown whether blind footballers use head movements as a strategy for trapping a moving ball. This study investigated characteristics of head rotations in blind footballers during ball trapping compared to sighted nonathletes. Participants performed trapping an approaching ball using their right foot. Head and trunk rotation angles in the sagittal plane, and head rotation angles in the horizontal plane were measured during ball trapping. The blind footballers showed a larger downward head rotation angle, as well as higher performance at the time of ball trapping than did the sighted nonathletes. However, no significant differences between the groups were found with regards to the horizontal head rotation angle and the downward trunk rotation angle. The blind footballers consistently showed a larger relative angle of downward head rotation from an early time point after ball launching to the moment of ball trapping. These results suggest that blind footballers couple downward head rotation with the movement of an approaching ball, to ensure that the ball is kept in a consistent egocentric direction relative to the head throughout ball trapping.
Highlights
ObjectivesThe purpose of the present study was to determine the strategy of blind footballers to localize a dynamic sound source, such as a moving ball
There was a significant difference in the head angle at the time of ball trapping (t [10] = 2.42, p = 0.036) between the blind footballers (− 37.3 ± 17.2 deg.) and the sighted nonathletes (− 14.3 ± 15.8 deg.), as shown in Fig. 5B; these results indicated that the blind footballers directed their head more downward than the sighted nonathletes
There was a significant difference in the peak-to-peak amplitude of the head angle (t [10] = 2.53, p = 0.030) between the blind footballers (− 36.2 ± 14.5 deg.) and the sighted nonathletes (− 18.8 ± 8.4 deg.), as shown in Fig. 5C; these results indicated that the blind footballers showed a larger downward head rotation than the sighted nonathletes
Summary
The purpose of the present study was to determine the strategy of blind footballers to localize a dynamic sound source, such as a moving ball. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the strategy of blind footballers when localizing a dynamic sound source, such as a moving ball
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