Today, 500 million people globally suffer from hearing loss, however, most individuals wait on average seven years before dealing with the condition due to a combination of factors, including stigmas and misconceptions related to hearing aids. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 40 million individuals live with untreated hearing loss. Stepping in to ad (Read more...)
Tag: Rehab
Low-Cost 3D-Printed Adaptive Aids for Arthritis Patients
Researchers and students at Michigan Technological University have used a 3D printer to create adaptive aids for arthritis patients, which could help people perform daily tasks such as opening doors or getting dressed. The devices are a small fraction of the cost of commercial alternatives, meet or improve on existing standards, and are customizabl (Read more...)
3D-Printed Custom Robotic Prostheses: Interview with Easton LaChappelle, CEO and Co-Founder of Unlimited Tomorrow
Unlimited Tomorrow, a medical device startup based in Rhinebeck, NY, is developing inexpensive custom prostheses for upper limb amputees. Their approach involves 3D-printing inexpensive custom robotic devices that allow users to experience a sensation of touch, by providing live feedback on the forces that act on the prosthetics. While there are 30 (Read more...)
MusicGlove Combining Music and Games for Stroke Rehab: Interview with Dr. Nizan Friedman, CEO of Flint Rehab
Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability around the world. In the United States alone, nearly 800,00 people suffer from a stroke each year. Many of those who are lucky to survive continue to live with various long-term physical disabilities, including upper limb motor impairment. Studies have shown that early motor rehabilitation is [&hell (Read more...)
Prosthetic Arm Powered by Amputee Moving Phantom Limb
French researchers at CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique ), Aix-Marseille University, and Sorbonne University have managed to teach a prosthetic arm to decode and replicate the movements of an amputee’s phantom limb. Most people who lose a limb still feel its presence and can “move” it long after amputation. These (Read more...)
New Wheelchair Uses Facial Gestures Instead of Joystick
There are many tools that allow disabled people to operate wheelchairs, including joysticks and blow tubes, but a new partnership between HOOBOX Robotics, a Brazilian company, and Intel, the chip maker, has resulted in a wheelchair controlled exclusively by face gestures. The Wheelie, as the device is called, has a camera that constantly monitors t (Read more...)
New E-Skin Nearly as Sensitive as Real One
At Stanford University researchers have created an electronic skin that is sensitive enough to give robotic hands the ability to handle delicate berries. Though mostly intended for robotic hands, the technology may give powered prostheses similar capabilities. The e-skin can measure slight pressures and even the direction in which they’re app (Read more...)
Attilan Developing Virtual Prosthetic Arm Training
Upper body amputees that receive powered prosthetic arms and hands require a lot of practice to get used to new prostheses. These devices are not exactly intuitive to use, so peg boards and other rehab gadgets are employed. This kind of rehab can get pretty monotonous and, because the prostheses are often heavy, physically exhausting. […]
Severely Disabled People Control Tablet Computer via Brain Implant
A team of researchers in the U.S. has given three quadriplegic people the ability to use an off-the-shelf tablet computer with impressive ease. The researchers used a BrainGate2 neural interface that relies on an intracortical electrode array implant to allow direct communication between the brain and the tablet. The high-end system connected to th (Read more...)
Four Blind People Go Home With New Bionic Eyes
Bionic Vision Technologies, a firm based in Australia, has announced that its bionic eye system has been used to restore a “sense of sight” to four completely blind people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa. The findings from the study, which was performed at Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, were presented at the (Read more...)
Four Blind People Go Home With New Bionic Eyes
Bionic Vision Technologies, a firm based in Australia, has announced that its bionic eye system has been used to restore a “sense of sight” to four completely blind people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa. The findings from the study, which was performed at Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, were presented at the (Read more...)
Four Blind People Go Home With New Bionic Eyes
Bionic Vision Technologies, a firm based in Australia, has announced that its bionic eye system has been used to restore a “sense of sight” to four completely blind people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa. The findings from the study, which was performed at Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, were presented at the (Read more...)
Scientists Give Humans Ability to Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field
Birds and many other animals are able to perceive the Earth’s magnetic field, an ability that allows them to navigate around the world with magical ease. Scientists at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), a research center in Dresden, Germany, have developed an electronic skin that can give humans the same capability. The new tec (Read more...)
Scientists Give Humans Ability to Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field
Birds and many other animals are able to perceive the Earth’s magnetic field, an ability that allows them to navigate around the world with magical ease. Scientists at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), a research center in Dresden, Germany, have developed an electronic skin that can give humans the same capability. The new tec (Read more...)
Mental Illness Body Tracker Accurately Diagnoses PTSD
Mental illness can be notoriously difficult to diagnose in many cases, since symptoms may be invisible to physicians and those that are can be misleading. Objective methods that don’t rely on a direct observation would help to improve diagnosis. Researchers at Draper, the famous engineering firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have developed a s (Read more...)
Robotic Stroke Rehab Orthosis with Neuro-Muscular Stimulation to Speed Recovery at Home
Stroke rehab is typically a slow and meticulous process that requires a good deal of mental stamina and lots of help from professionals. Personally delivered rehab from a specialist is expensive, but if one has the staying power there’s new technology coming from Hong Kong Polytechnic University that lets people rehabilitate at home. The (Read more...)
Paralyzed People Walk Again, Even Without Neurostimulation
The word “paralysis” is starting to lose its gloomy permanence, as researchers at top-end institutions around the world have been getting some people back on their legs who were previously thought to have to spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs. Well targeted electrical nerve stimulation, coupled with specialized rehab training, (Read more...)
CooperVision’s Contacts Combat Eye Fatigue from Digital Screen Usage (Interview)
A recent study by OnePoll, conducted on behalf of CooperVision, manufacturer of soft contact lenses, found that 49 percent of Americans “feel society has become more digital and screen-oriented in the past five years.” The trend is not unexpected with 74 percent of employed Americans using a computer at their job and 7 in 10 […]
Nerve-on-a-Chip to Improve Functionality of Neuroprosthetic Devices
Scientists at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have created a special device to be able to stimulate and record signals from and to peripheral nerve fibers on a specialty chip. The device can be used to repeatedly stimulate and record the returning electric activity with high resolution, p (Read more...)
Vayyar Imaging Launches Walabot Home, A Senior Care Smart Home Device for Fall Detection
This week, Vayyar Imaging, a player in 3D sensor imaging technology, announced the launch of Walabot HOME, a senior care smart home device. Walabot HOME is designed for fall detection without the use of wearables, through the use of low-power radio wave technology similar to Wi-Fi. Avoiding the need for cameras, the system allows users […]