الملخص الإنجليزي
The aim of this study is twofold. First, to compare static balance
performances with open/closed eyes between visually impaired young male
subjects and normally sighted controls. Second, to determine the difference in
simple auditory leg reaction time (SALRT) between the two groups. 15
visually impaired male participants (age: 1.71±1.0 years, body mass:
61.7±1.71 kg, height: 165.4±3.8 cm, BMI: 22.4±5.0 kg.m-2
) and 15 sighted
male controls (age: 17.1±0.6 years, body mass: 72.0±19.1 kg, height:
170.7±7.8 cm, BMI: 24.7±7.0 kg.m-2
) were selected for the study. All
participants performed static balance by standing on one leg for the longest
period of time using a Takei machine. SALRT was tested by raising the foot
as quickly as possible in response to an auditory stimulus from a reaction time
device (Brower-TC Motion start, Salt Lake City, 174 UT, USA; accuracy of
0.01s). Each participant performed 3 attempts in each test with complete
recovery in between. The last two attempts were used to verify the reliability
of the test. Results showed the static balance test with open/closed eyes was
not reliable, whether for the visually impaired subjects or sighted controls.
For this reason, no comparison was made between the two groups.
Furthermore, visually impaired participants have significant shorter SALRT
than the sighted controls (210±46 vs.257±46ms, p=0.01, ES=1.06). Area
under the ROC curve was 0.761. Sensitivity and specificity of the SALRT test
were 73.3 % and 86.7 %, respectively. These findings showed that visually
impaired people react more quickly to an auditory stimulus than sighted
people may be because they compensate for the total or partial loss of vision
by increasing the use of hearing.
