PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of home-based auditory stimulation on walking performance and to determine its clinical feasibility for chronic hemiparetic stroke patients. SUBJECTS: The subjects of this study were 20 chronic stroke patients. METHODS: The subjects were randomly divided into two groups: the experimental group (n = 10) used over the ground gait training with a metronome beat, and the control group (n = 10) which performed over the ground gait training. RESULT: The affected side single support time, affected side single support time ratio, and gait velocity of both groups were significantly improved when compared with their respective values before the experiment. Affected side stride length, non-affected side stride length, and stride length ratio of the experimental group were significantly different between, before and after the experiment. Comparison of the spatial-temporal gait parameters and symmetry ratios between the experimental group and the control group after the exercise showed a significant difference in affected stride length, non-affected stride length, stride length ratio, affected single support time, non-affected single support time, single support time ratio, and gait velocity. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that the home-based auditory stimulation training more effectively improves the walking performance of chronic stroke patients than gait training without auditory stimulation.

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