Multimodal Sensor Fusion Deep Learning Model for Early Prediction of
Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's Disease
Abstract
Background: Freezing of gait (FoG) is a common and debilitating
symptom in individuals with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD),
significantly increasing the risk of falls. Wearable devices have
facilitated the detection of FoG and falls, but early prediction remains
underexplored. This study investigates the use of multimodal sensor
fusion and deep learning for the early prediction of FoG events in PD
patients. Research Question: Can a multimodal sensor fusion
deep learning model accurately predict FoG events well before time in
Parkinson’s disease patients, and how robust is the model to noise and
inter-subject variability? Methods: The proposed study utilized
Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), Electromyography (EMG), and
Electroencephalography (EEG) signals from PD patients to develop and
evaluate deep learning models. The CNN+LSTM architecture was employed
and compared with other classifiers. Stratified ten-fold
cross-validation was used to assess model accuracy. The robustness of
IMU+EMG and IMU+EMG+EEG configurations to noise was tested, and
inter-subject performance evaluation was conducted. Pre-FOG detection
capabilities were also analyzed to emphasize the importance of temporal
dynamics in the multimodal approach. Results: The CNN+LSTM
model achieved a high accuracy of 94.45% in predicting FoG events. The
IMU+EMG and IMU+EMG+EEG configurations demonstrated robust performance
across inter-subject evaluations. The models showed resilience to noise,
with the CNN+LSTM and IMU+EMG+EEG configurations maintaining high
accuracy. Pre-FOG detection achieved 94.20% accuracy, highlighting the
model’s effectiveness in capturing temporal dynamics.
Significance: The CNN+LSTM model, particularly in the
IMU+EMG+EEG configuration, proves to be a robust and accurate predictor
of FoG events in PD patients. The study’s findings underscore the
potential clinical impact of multimodal sensor fusion and deep learning
in reducing false positives and negatives and enhancing precision,
sensitivity, and specificity. These insights are crucial for deploying
reliable FoG prediction systems in real-world settings and advancing PD
management. Future research should explore additional sensor modalities,
transferability to different PD cohorts, longitudinal data, and
real-time deployment in clinical environments.