Wearable device

I worked on a wearable device that straps onto your wrist and measures reaction time. One application for this device is to monitor cognitive decline. This is because out of all neuropsychological tests, reaction time is the most sensitive to dementia.

A vibration was generated as a stimulus, so that the user knew to respond with a simple wrist motion. Reaction time between the stimulus and motion was measured and recorded.

Studies on reaction time show that:

• Sudden increase in reaction time can be the result of some disorders, such as depression

• Reaction time is well suited for clinical purposes because of its sensitivity and repeatability

The results can be used to:

• Trigger alarms

• Monitor patient evolution under treatment

• Execute therapeutic maneuvers

• Disable certain mechanisms

• Legal purposes

We conducted experiments on ten volunteers. Our user test showed that:

• Reaction time did not improve with practice 

• All ten participants pursued the test for the full 8 hours

• The participants reacted properly to 95.5 +/- 4.5% of the stimuli  

 

This project won first place at the CITRIS Big Ideas Contest.

You can read more about the development and testing of this device in my publication:
Minimally Obtrusive Wearable Device for Continuous Interactive Cognitive and Neurological Assessment