Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and affects many over-65s. There’s no easy or reliable way to test it.
Scientists have now created a smartphone app that, based on an eye-snapshot, can detect Alzheimer’s symptoms and other neurological conditions.
This app monitors changes in pupil size and researchers at University of California San Diego suggest that it could be used for cognitive assessment.
Colin Barry, the first author, stated that although there are still many things to do, he is excited about the possibility of using the technology to allow neurological screening to move out of clinical laboratory settings into the homes.
“We are hopeful that this will open the door for new explorations in using smartphones to detect health problems and monitor them earlier.
This app makes use of a smartphone’s near-infrared camera in order to identify the pupil and determine its size. It is accurate down to 0.1 millimetres. Meanwhile, the app uses the selfie camera on the smartphone to capture a colour photo and measure the distance between the phone’s user and it. The app can convert the pupil sizes from the near infrared images into millimetre units.
The pupil, the dark circle at the center of your eye, is what allows light in and focuses the retina to allow you to see.
Research has previously shown that the size of a pupil can give information about one’s neurologic functions.
If a person is performing a challenging cognitive task or hearing an unanticipated sound, the pupil size may increase.
The pupil response test is a method used by healthcare professionals to determine pupil size.
This is a complex procedure that requires expensive and specialized equipment and cannot be done in a lab.
The team wanted to find a cheaper and more affordable solution in their latest study.
Professor Eric Granholm at UC San Diego School of Medicine said, “A scalable smartphone assessment tool can be used to large-scale communal screenings could facilitate development of pupil responses tests as minimally invasive and cheap tests to aid in detection and understanding of diseases such Alzheimer’s disease.”
It uses the near-infrared sensor on a smartphone to identify and measure the pupils.
Many smartphones have infrared cameras built into them for facial recognition. This includes the OnePlus 8 Pro and iPhone X, as well as the Samsung Galaxy S8 & later.
In the meantime, the selfie camera on the smartphone is being used to capture a colour photo, as well as the distance between user and smartphone.
A smartphone app has been developed by scientists that can detect Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders based on the selfie taken of an eye.
The app can convert the pupil sizes from the near infrared images into millimetre units.
During testing, the researchers found that the app’s measurements were comparable to those taken by a pupillometre – the device considered the gold standard for measuring pupil size.
To ensure that the app is user-friendly, the team worked closely with seniors.
The key features of the device include image-based instruction and voice commands.
“By working directly with seniors, we were able to learn about how to make our system more usable and also helped us invent older adult-specific solutions that allow those with physical limitations to use the system with greater ease,” said Professor Edward Wang of the UC San Diego Design Lab.
“When creating technologies, we need to think beyond functionality as the sole metric for success. We must also understand how solutions are used by diverse end users.
Now, the team plans to evaluate the app on older people with mild cognitive impairment to determine if it can be used to screen for early stages of Alzheimer’s.