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Dear friends, At long last we have completed the development of the Visual Walker for movement disorders patients. It is a non-invasive, non-pharmacological device for gait management. Based on visual-feedback and virtual reality concepts, it is a tiny apparatus, attached to the eyeglasses frame. it is easy to use and maintain. For further details, you are invited to read the Press Release below and to enter my web site www.cs.technion.ac.il/~baram (click on "Visual Walker"). Following seven long years of research and development, this is a major achievement for us. The positive effects of the device on movement disorders of various causes has been shown by several clinical studies (details are provided at my web-site). More clinical studies are being conducted at major medical centers around the world these very days. The cost of the device is still quite high. It is largely determined by the cost of its electronic and optical components. We still have a way to go before reaching large-scale commercial distribution of the device. In order to make it possible for researchers and individuals to benefit from the Visual Walker at present, we are now offering a limited number of units as a gift to those who make a nominal contribution to our research fund (one unit per contribution). Please contact me for further details. Sincerely, Yoram Baram ================================== Professor Yoram Baram Computer Science Department Technion Haifa 32000, Israel Phone: 972-4-8294356 Fax: 972-4-8293900 email:[log in to unmask] ================================== Technion PRESS RELEASE Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa 32000, Tel: 04-8235193, Fax: 04-8235195 Virtual reality helps people with movement disorders walk An innovative device, developed by Prof. Yoram Baram of the Technion Faculty of Computer Science, uses virtual reality to improve walking in the elderly, as well as in Parkinson's patients, stroke victims and, more generally, people with movement disorders - possibly reducing their need for medication or surgery. The apparatus - a small device strapped to the patient's clothing - displays a tiled floor through a tiny device attached to the patient's eyeglasses. The tile patterns provide continuous, stabilizing visual information which safeguards against stumbling and falling while walking. The patented innovation is the first of its kind to respond to the patient's motions rather than just providing a constant visual display. "The image reacts to the patient's motions just like in real life," explains Baram. "For example, when the patient stands in place, the virtual floor doesn't move, but when he begins to walk, the floor starts moving beneath him. When he turns, the image of the floor also turns. Yet all the while the patient feels like he is walking on a steady floor." The idea for the project was sparked 12 years ago while Baram was designing a mechanism for NASA to navigate low-flying helicopters around obstacles such as trees, buildings and electrical poles. The concept of the design, which Baram later applied to the medical device, is that the optical images of objects help the observer stabilize himself in space. "A person who is walking uses visual images to navigate himself so he doesn't collide," says Baram, who earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering at Technion, a master's in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT and a PhD in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT. "While a healthy person has internal mechanisms, such as a liquid in the inner ear, to help balance himself, older people are deficient in this area. But they can be helped by visual cues like tiles that operate through biofeedback." Collaborating with Dr. Judith Aharon Peretz, head of the Department of Cognitive Neurology at Rambam Hospital, Baram tested the device on more than 40 patients, ranging in age from 46 to 82. In the study's first phase, all participants were Parkinson's patients, but eventually the study also included non-Parkinson's patients who had suffered strokes and older people who reside in old-age homes in Haifa. Results were astounding, says Baram, with all patients showing some degree of improvement in their walking. Some experienced drastic improvement similar to the effects of medication or brain surgery, but without the adverse side effects. The clinical trials indicated that the device may have long-term benefits as well. After using the apparatus for less than 30 minutes only, most patients were able to walk better for a short period of time after they removed the device. "When I saw these positive results I was amazed, very excited and gratified," recalls Baram. "After I published a paper on the subject last year, doctors came forward and said they didn't believe it would work. Of course I had my doubts too. It was a theory that needed to be proven, and we've succeeded in doing that." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn