Different information displays have a varying effect on local gait stability

Many industries are interested in using wearable displays (e.g., “smart” glasses) to enhance worker performance. Since diverse occupational tasks involve walking, however, it is important to evaluate walking safety while using this new technology. In an earlier study, participants complained about instability while using smart glasses. Thus, we aimed here to investigate the effects of this head-worn display on gait stability during dual-task walking, and compared the results with the effects of other traditional displays. Twenty participants performed four walking conditions, including single-task walking and three dual-task conditions using three information displays. The maximum Lyapunov Exponent was used to quantify local gait stability. Surprisingly, we found that participants had higher stability in the mediolateral (ML) direction when using the smart glasses, compared with the single task. The current results, together with earlier results imply that the subjects adopted conservative walking patterns while using the smart glasses.