The Beneficial Effects of Conventional Visual Cues Are Retained When Augmented Reality Glasses Are Worn

Wearing smart glasses may be distracting and thus annihilate the beneficial effects of cues on freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease. Furthermore, augmented reality cues might be effective in reducing FOG specifically in cueing-responsive patients. We present a single-patient study in which a patient with Parkinson’s disease traversed a doorway under different cueing conditions. Wearing augmented reality (AR) glasses did not deteriorate FOG nor affect the beneficial effects of cues. The AR visual cues did not improve FOG. This single-patient study implies that the current design of AR glasses does not stand in the way of the development of augmented reality visual cues. However, the effectivity of augmented reality visual cues remains to be proven.