Researchers: New smartphone app can detect concussions

By EMS1 Staff 

SEATTLE — Researchers at the University of Washington are working on a smartphone app that can detect concussions using artificial intelligence and the phone’s video camera.

Washington.edu reported that PupilScreen detects concussions by measuring changes in a pupil’s response to light. The phone camera, paired with a type of artificial intelligence, can quantify changes imperceptible to the human eye.

The app can apparently assess a patient’s pupillary light reflex almost as well as a pupilometer, a machine only found in hospitals.

The team of computer scientists, electrical engineers and medical researchers demonstrated how PupilScreen can be used to detect a traumatic brain injury. The app will undergo a clinical study this fall where coaches, EMS providers and doctors will gather data to determine which pupillary response characteristics are most helpful in finding ambiguous cases of concussion.

The goal is to release a commercial version of the app in two years.