A mixed-method pilot study was carried out to assess the cognitive load of sign language among users and, consequently, the possible risk of injurious falls. The study specifically investigated the possible risk of falls due to the simultaneous activity of walking and signing. Five American Sign Language (ASL) users completed three walking tasks: walking without signing, walking whilst retelling a story using ASL and walking whilst having a conversation using ASL. Four different gait parameters were also measured. Following the walking tasks, a semi-structured interview was also carried out to understand the participants’ subjective perception of fall risk whilst carrying out a dual task. As expected, results showed that the participants’ gait stability decreased as their cognitive load increased. However, three contributing themes were identified: walking and signing is a common task in the Deaf community; signers maintain compensatory strategies; and cultural rules to minimise risk of falls whilst walking and signing exist. Overall, whilst the results of this study do indicate there is a possible increased risk of falls whilst walking amongst the signing community, the sample size is very small, indicating further studies should be carried out.
Falls and ASL users
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