Effects of white Gaussian noise on dynamic balance in healthy young adults

Abstract

It has been known that short-time auditory stimulation can contribute to the improvement of the balancing ability of the human body. The present study aims to explore the effects of white Gaussian noise (WGN) of different intensities and frequencies on dynamic balance performance in healthy young adults. A total of 20 healthy young participants were asked to stand at a dynamic balance force platform, which swung along the x-axis with an amplitude of ± 4° and frequency of 1 Hz. Their center of pressure (COP) trajectories were recorded when they were stimulated by WGN of different intensities (block 1) and different frequencies (block 2). A traditional method and detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) were used for data preprocessing. The authors found that only with 75–85 dB WGN, the COP parameters improved. WGN frequency did not affect the dynamic balance performance of all the participants. The DFA results indicated stimulation with 75 dB WGN enhanced the short-term index and reduced the crossover point. Stimulation with 500 Hz and 2500 Hz WGN significantly enhanced the short-term index. These results suggest that 75 dB WGN and 500 Hz and 2500 Hz WGN improved the participants’ dynamic balance performance. The results of this study indicate that a certain intensity of WGN is indispensable to achieve a remarkable improvement in dynamic balance. The DFA results suggest that WGN only affected the short-term persistence, indicating the potential of WGN being considered as an adjuvant therapy in low-speed rehabilitation training.