Reported December 2007

BACKGROUND: A California podiatrist named Tom Riess has developed a set of augmented reality glasses that can help people suffering from Parkinson’s disease walk straight, with confidence and without drugs. Riess was stricken with the disease at the age of 33, and spent 16 years testing various devices in his garage, using himself as the main test subject. His glasses are light, portable, inexpensive, easy to manufacture, offer hands-free control and look stylish.

HOW IT WORKS: The glasses have an array of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a computer chip embedded in the sidebar of an otherwise typical pair of wraparound sunglasses. The LEDs produce thin, virtual horizontal lines that are projected onto a transparent screen across the wearer’s entire field of view. The lines scroll towards the wearer at an even flow, but when walking look steady. The lines disappear entirely when the user looks up. The glasses also contain mercury switches that track head movements and “choreograph” the virtual cues accordingly. A more recent version uses LEDs to generate peripheral cues to not only permit normal walking, but also to help suppress the jerky, uncontrolled movements that can result from the body’s attempts to process apparently irrational movement, called dyskinesia.

PARKINSON’S PROBLEMS: Many people suffering from Parkinson’s disease experience progressively greater difficulty walking, a condition known as akinesia that is thought to result from depletion of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain’s movement control center. The most common gait problems are freezing and small little stuttering steps. Drug treatment can help alleviate this condition, but also has undesirable side effects.

HOW THE GLASSES HELP: The augmented reality glasses simulate an effect called kinesia paradoxa: the triggering of normal walking behavior in akinetic Parkinson’s patients by the placement of physical obstacles at their feet. Sometimes such cues exist naturally, such as black and white tiles placed evenly on a floor. The black tiles appear as objects to avoid, or as guides, and trigger a reflex of landing the feet between the black spaces. Walking up regularly spaced objects like stairs triggers the same effect, and can “un-freeze” a person who otherwise has problems walking with a normal gait. Presenting virtual objects and abstract visual cues moving through the patient’s visual field at speeds that emulate normal walking can also achieve this effect.

The Optical Society of America contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

If you would like more information, please contact:

The Parkinson's Institute
675 Almanor Avenue
Sunnyvale, California 94085-2934
(800) 655-2273 or (800) 786-2958

To find out more about LED's and the products they're in, contact:

Optical Society of America
(202) 223-8130
http://www.osa.org
info@osa.org

DID YOU KNOW?

Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive, degenerative neurological disorder that afflicts between .5 and 1.5 million Americans alone.

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