Effects of rhythmic auditory stimulation on functional mobility and gait in individuals with Parkinson’s disease in a community environment

Objective To examine the effects of rhythmic auditory stimulation (RAS) on functional mobility and gait speed in Parkinson’s disease (PD) across indoor and supervised outdoor environments.Methods Of 52 individuals screened, 27 were enrolled in a repeated-measures design. Participants completed the Timed Up and Go (TUG) and 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT) with and without RAS indoors and outdoors. Two-way repeated-measures ANOVA and within-environment change-score analyses were conducted.Results RAS significantly improved TUG performance (F(1,26)=18.986, p < 0.001, ηp2=0.422), reducing completion time by 1.77 s, and increased 10MWT gait speed (F(1,26)=10.179, p = 0.004, ηp2=0.281), with gains of 0.11–0.13 m/s. Neither Environment nor the Environment × RAS interaction was significant. Differences in RAS-related change between environments were 0.009 s (95% CI −0.120 to 0.139) for TUG and −0.022 m/s (95% CI −0.067 to 0.023) for 10MWT.Conclusions There was no evidence that the acute effect of RAS differed between indoor and supervised outdoor environments in PD.