Inventors : Professor Manohar Bance & Dr. Iwan Roberts, Clinical Neurosciences
Balance issues and dizziness can be caused by a wide variety of conditions, both chronic and transient. These can have a serious impact on people’s lives, reducing their confidence in leaving the house, and risking falls and injuries.
The inventors have developed an on-ear wearable device designed to monitor falls, predict falls and provide an objective measure of a patient’s response to treatment. Additionally, it pairs with an app to provide structured balance rehabilitation therapy, that can be prescribed by a clinician, automatically progressed by the app, and response to therapy monitored using the wearable device.
The device is similar in appearance to bone conduction headphones. It measures gait and body movement, as well as head movement and eye movements. It can potentially also measure ECG and EEG for future applications. It can be used for any medical condition that results in dizziness or balance issues. A first prototype has been tested on 70 individuals to help refine the movement analysis features.
Initially the inventors plan to work with vestibular therapists who are specialists supporting patients diagnosed with peripheral vestibular issues (balance issues caused by problems with the inner ear). Eventually they envision the device being available from a GP at an earlier stage in the diagnostic pathway.
The question for the i-Team will be to investigate the market for this device for balance impaired patients, as well as assessing the need for such a device in other disease areas such as Parkinson’s disease, stroke and traumatic brain injury. Their role will be to recommend the next steps towards taking this device forward, as well as the best applications for its use.