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Saccadic eye movements become slower in Alzheimer’s patients. New hearable technology inspired by superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndrome helps hear early signals.
A subtle quirk in eye movements could prove to be an early and affordable method for detecting Alzheimer’s disease. The new research focuses on saccades — small, rapid eye movements that help the brain process visual information. In Alzheimer’s patients, these movements become somewhat slower and less precise, even in the earliest stages of the disease.
Researchers at the École de Technologie Supérieure, in Canada, and Dartmouth College, in the USA, are exploring a novel approach to monitoring these changes, with the help of sensitive in-ear microphones. By capturing vibrations in the eardrum caused by eye movements, these devices, called “hearables“, emerge as a portable and non-invasive alternative to traditional eye tracking equipment, according to results shared by .
“It is a headset with microphones that captures the body’s physiological signals“, explains the electrical engineer Miriam Boutrosfrom the École de Technologie Supérieure: “our goal is to develop health monitoring algorithms for hearing aids, capable of continuous, long-term monitoring and early detection of diseases”.
“Eye movements are fascinating, as they are one of the fastest and most precise movements of the human body, and therefore depend on both excellent motor skills and cognitive functioning”, says electrical engineer Arian Shamei from the École de Technologie Supérieure.
As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, these movements degrade—initially in just milliseconds, but increasingly over time.
Current diagnostic tools for Alzheimer’s disease are viewed by authors as often invasive, expensive or inaccessible, and that’s where hearable technology comes in. In-ear microphones detect vibrations from eye movements, which, although imperceptible to most people, can be accurately measured.
The technique is inspired by rare cases of individuals with superior semicircular canal dehiscence syndromea disease that causes the wear of the bone layer that covers the canal, which causes patients to be able to listen to your own eye movements.
The research team is conducting a trial involving 35 Alzheimer’s patients and 35 healthy individuals. Participants will wear eye-tracking devices and hearing aids to assess the reliability of eardrum vibrations in identifying saccadic latency. The ultimate goal is to develop a wearable device capable of monitoring health, continuously and over the long term.
