This study examined the effects of vision on balance. All participants, male (n=4), female (n=4), performed a baseline test of balancing with eyes open on a flat hard surface with single leg and tandem stance for 30 seconds in a quiet area to reduce distractions. After baseline was performed, participants closed had to have their eyes closed and balance for at least 30 seconds with single leg and tandem stance on a flat hard surface. The following day, all participants tested balance with eyes open and eyes closed with the same task on a foam pad. Findings determined that the participants did better on the flat hard ground compared to the foam pad with eyes open and eyes closed. The results showed that on average, participants dropped their leg or fell over half way through on flat surface. On average, participants dropped their leg or fell over within 5-15 seconds on the foam pad. The results concluded that without vision on flat surfaces and on foam pads, the ability to balance decreases significantly compared to with vision.

1. Team Purple: Brigitte Baker, Rachel Christensen, Cory Low,
Marvin Rillera, Breyana Semien, Mick York
Honeine, J., Crisafulli, O., Sozzi, S., & Schieppati, M. (2015). Processing time of addition or withdrawal of single or combined balance stabilizing haptic and visual
information. Journal Of Neurophysiology, 114(6), 3097-3110. doi:10.1152/jn.00618.2015
Sobry, V., Badin, P., Cernaianu, S., Agnani, O., & Toussaint, M. (2014). Do visually impaired people have a static balance as effective as sighted people?.
Neurorehabilitation, 35(4), 851-861. doi:10.3233/NRE-141181
References
This study examined the effects of vision on balance. All participants, male
(n=4), female (n=4), performed a baseline test of balancing with eyes open on a flat
hard surface with single leg and tandem stance for 30 seconds in a quiet area to
reduce distractions. After baseline was performed, participants closed had to have
their eyes closed and balance for at least 30 seconds with single leg and tandem
stance on a flat hard surface. The following day, all participants tested balance with
eyes open and eyes closed with the same task on a foam pad. Findings determined
that the participants did better on the flat hard ground compared to the foam pad
with eyes open and eyes closed. The results showed that on average, participants
dropped their leg or fell over half way through on flat surface. On average,
participants dropped their leg or fell over within 5-15 seconds on the foam pad. The
results concluded that without vision on flat surfaces and on foam pads, the ability to
balance decreases significantly compared to with vision.
Abstract
The graph supports our hypothesis in showing a significant decrease in the amount of
time participants were able to balance with their eyes open and when closed, as well
as when the level of difficulty increased when standing on the foam pads.
When the participants had their eyes open there wasn’t much of a decrease in times,
most were able to balance for the full 30 seconds; flat ground tandem (M= 30), flat
ground single leg (M= 30), foam pad tandem (M= 29), foam pad single leg (M=
27.6125) . But we start to see a very clear decrease in times between having eyes
open and closed when the surface became more difficult. The most significant
decrease shown in balance times were when participants were standing with eyes
closed, tandem stance on the foam pad (M= 11.68), and when participants had their
eyes closed, single leg stance on the foam pad (M= 5.175).
Conducting this study showed not only is there a relationship between balancing and
vision (eyes open or closed), the surfaces one is standing on also plays a role in their
ability to balance.
Introduction
This study was conducted on a sample of 8 San Jose State University Kinesiology
students between the age ranges of 19-22.
Instruments used in this study were a foam pad and timers.
Testing on each participant was conducted individually in a quiet room in Spartan
Complex. The students performed a total of 8 trials on varying surfaces (4 on flat
ground & 4 on foam pad): single dominant leg (eyes open & closed) and tandem
stance (eyes open & closed).
Students were instructed to perform each trial with shoes off, hands on hips, and in
the proper stance for 30 seconds with their eyes open, then once more with their
eyes closed. Time was recorded until the student’s hands came off their hips and/or
the position of either whole foot moved completely.
Methods and Materials
Discussion
Maintaining balance and understanding one’s own surrounding is an important
aspect in human life. The human body must organize and integrate information from
their visual system (eyes), proprioception (knowing where our body is in space), and
vestibular system (inner ear sensing motion and equilibrium). Living everyday in our
environment requires bodily changes, that the brain continually uses from our
sensory inputs. These sensory inputs are not all evenly distributed, as one might
have greater sensitivity, intensity or amplitude (Honeine, Crisafulli, Sozzi, &
Schieppati 2015).
In previous research, one study revealed that vision represents 70% of the body’s
sensory receptors and that people with sight have a better balance than the visually
impaired (Sobry, Badin, Cernaianu, Aganani, & Toussaint, 2014). For our conducted
research, we will be using four different surface conditions (our independent
variable) and having time as our (dependent variable). Another condition that we
controlled was having their eyes-opened and closed. By incorporating different set
conditions, we will be determining the relationship between vision and balance.
Results
Relationship Between Vision and Balance
Purpose
The purpose was to study how the conditions of vision (eyes open and eyes
closed) on different surfaces (flat ground and foam pad) influence balance on the
body (single leg or tandem stance).
Discussion
In the current study, we examined the effects of vision on the ability to
remain balanced on various surfaces. As demonstrated within our data, it is clear that
there is a strong negative relationship between vision and balance. As the sense of
sight was taken away from our participants we saw steep declines in their “balanced”
times. This could be explained by the importance of the visual system on the balance
system. Without our sense of vision and the ability to determine where our body is in
relation to the world, our balance severely declines. Similar to the study conducted
by Sobry V. (2014), our study agrees that sighted people have better a better sense
and ability to remain balanced than those without vision. They found that on average
the speed of displacement (loss of balance) on flat ground in the visually impaired
was 32% higher than the sighted participants with their eyes open, while only a 9%
increase with their eyes closed. On a foam surface the speed of displacement was
37% higher in the visually impaired with their eyes open, while there was no
significant change with their eyes closed. Overall, their data coincides well with ours
in that there is a steep decline in the ability to remain balanced when your ability to
see is taken away and overall there is a strong negative correlation between vision
and balance.
⚫ = Flat Ground Tandem Stance
▲ = Flat Ground Single Leg
⬛ = Foam Pad Tandem Stance
▬ = Foam Pad Single Leg
Significance
This study represents a better understanding of the correlation between sight and
our sense of balance. With this knowledge of the importance of vision on balance we
could conduct further studies to understand how we or our bodies could compensate
for a lack of vision