Mixed reality for the diagnosis and assessment of neurodegenerative diseases
The aim of this project is to create an integrated system assisted by Augmented Reality (AR) technologies to obtain multimodal diagnostic information and monitor the condition of patients with neurodegenerative diseases (ND) during treatment based on a set of registered signals. The research includes diseases such as:
- Parkinson’s disease,
- Atypical Parkinsonism (multi-system atrophy, Lewy body dementia, corticobasal degeneration),
- Huntington’s disease.
In neurodegenerative diseases, it is essential to track all symptoms arising from the progressive neurodegeneration of the brain. The project applies AR goggles to obtain multimodal medical signals such as voice and speech, hand movement analysis, eye movement during saccades, monitoring of posture stability, and gait analysis. Using a set of cameras installed in the AR goggles that track the movements of the eyeball, it will be possible to analyze their motor skills and reactions to specific tasks that will be displayed to the patient using AR. Using a set of sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and goggle magnetometers, it is possible to track parameters that indicate dystonia (posture and gait analysis). Other symptoms are slowness of movement and tremors. Their analysis is carried out using AR capabilities to track the movement of the hand. ND also affects voice and speech quality. Registration of acoustic signals is carried out with the use of microphones integrated with the AR goggles. The system enables the acquisition and analysis of a series of signals, their correlation in various contexts, and the clinical symptoms of patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
The works are being carried out by the team from AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland in cooperation with the medical professionals from Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University.
This project has received funding from The National Centre for Research and Development in Poland under Lider XII program no: LIDER/6/0049/L-12/20/NCBR/2021.
