Google Glass puts the focus on Parkinson’s
Experts at Newcastle University are investigating Google Glass as an assistive aid to help people with Parkinson’s retain their independence for longer.
Glass is a wearable computer being developed by Google. Likened to the kind of technology fictionalised in the Hollywood Blockbuster Minority Report, at first glance Glass appears to be no more than a pair of designer glasses. But the system works like a hands-free smartphone, displaying information on the lens of the Glass. The technology is voice-operated and linked to the internet.
Not currently available outside the US, the five pairs of Glass at Newcastle University were donated by Google to allow researchers to test how they could be used to support people with long-term conditions.
Initial studies by the team - who are based in the University’s Digital Interaction Group in Culture Lab, part of the School of Computing Science - have focussed on the acceptability of Glass. They have been working with a group of Parkinson’s volunteers aged between 46-70 years.
Now they are working on the next stage of the project, using the technology to provide discreet prompts linked to key behaviours typical of Parkinson’s, such as reminding the individual to speak up or to swallow to prevent drooling. Glass can also be used as a personal reminder for things such as medication and appointments.
The team will also be exploring how the motion sensors in Glass can be used to support people with ‘freezing’, a behaviour caused by motor blocking a common symptom of Parkinson’s.
Led by Dr John Vines, PhD student Roisin McNaney and Dr Ivan Poliakov, this is the first UK trial of Glass. Presenting their initial findings later this month at the ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) 2014 conference in Toronto, Canada, the team will show how emerging technologies can potentially be used to support people with progressive diseases such as Parkinson’s and dementia.
