One of our company’s goals is to diversify markets and use cases in which our sensors can make a difference and bring benefits. In this spirit, the Business Development tasked with growing the potential for our Smart Health market has started to work on a medical gaming project involving ActiSense. This is a completely novel project which aims at testing nerve function and health in a playful way and could help both medical professionals and of course, patients.

What can ActiSense do in the field of Neuropathy?

A lot, but let’s go through this project that will be presented during the MEDICA fair and that focuses on this condition, which is more common than known, especially in patients suffering from diabetes.

Some four years ago, our team contacted the University in Magdeburg to discuss a project they were conducting on their own, without very performant sensors – and therefore, without satisfactory results. They developed a gaming application designed to detect peripheral neuropathy (which occurs when the nerves in the body extremities – hands, arms, feet – are damaged). IEE provided the complete ActiSense system with sensors, firmware, and electronics, based on the algorithms that the team in Magdeburg built for the application. They used our devices, and our team supported their development efforts, ultimately helping them reach their goals of running clinical trials and validate effectiveness.

The university’s research team concluded from the gaming application that all elements from visual coordination, anticipation of movement to coordinated movements with the feet and fine-tuned pressure delivery are important for successful early diagnosis. By standardizing the games, huge data sets from more than 700 participants were collected. By performing a clinical examination of the same patients, it was possible to get a better insight into the most important changes in performance. Basically, patients were able to find out within 10 minutes whether their nerve function was intact.

There are several advantages of using the gaming application. Not only is it joyful – a play – but in the long run it does not require frequent support from medical professionals. Based on the results of the interactive game and the patterns detected, a preselection is made of patients that display risks of nerve damage who might need closer medical attention.

“The final goal is to convert this into a telehealth device that can effectively be used from the comfort of a patient’s home, remote from the clinic. The findings may be sent straight to the doctor’s cabinet, thus saving commuting effort and waiting time,” says Tobias Meyer, Business Development Manager at IEE.

Some interesting facts:

• About 40% of all patients diagnosed with diabetes develop peripheral neuropathy.
• The risk of late detection is high, especially when typical alarm signs (such as pain in the feet) are missing. As a result, tissue damage of the feet may develop.
• Studies from the university showed that ˃ 50% of patients with diabetes are not aware of their peripheral nerve function deficits (neuropathy). Not being aware means they cannot get the necessary help.
• ˃500 patients have already been tested in clinical settings and were very satisfied with the collaboration.

We are looking for partnerships which can support in the process of certification as a medical device, so that such solutions can be released to a broader market. We continue to be active in this medical field and combine forces with health care professionals. We keep on validating business opportunities towards digital health care solutions. MEDICA is a unique opportunity to present our achievements. This will raise awareness of the capabilities of products such as ActiSense in the field of Neuropathy.

Over the last decades, vehicle safety never ceased to increase in importance, with practical improvements constantly being done to make the millions of cars in daily traffic a safe “hub” for drivers and passengers. Crash structures are made to absorb energy and the “safety cell” helps keep the passenger compartment intact. Seat belts and airbags mitigate injury risks by preventing the occupant to hit the vehicle interior or windshield, or to be thrown out of the vehicle.

The vehicles we drive today are truly designed and tested to meet a variety of safety standards. Still, it is also up to us, drivers, and passengers to make right use of the safety items which are fitted into a vehicle. Are we making the most of the safety tools at hand?

Let’s consider seatbelts for a moment. Wearing the seatbelt is still considered the most important factor in preventing serious or fatal occupant injuries in a vehicle crash. Seat belts have gone a long way since they were first introduced in 1959 as a standard equipment by Volvo. Initially just a rigid belt, many features have been added in the meantime to improve their wearing comfort as well as their safety performance. Widely unknown to the public, seat belt pretensioners and belt load limiters are key elements to further optimize the safety potential.

The pretensioner removes belt slack and allows for a belt interaction with the occupant to absorb energy already in an early phase of the crash. Belt safety is further supported by the load limiter, allowing for a controlled forward displacement of the occupant while limiting the force on the ribcage. A “rigid” seat belt has a higher risk of generating forces that could break the ribs, leading to potentially life-threatening injuries: The load limiters’ aim is to prevent this from happening.

NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) organizations worldwide assess vehicle safety, and their occupant safety requirements have managed to push the fitment of such advanced seat belt systems in vehicles – first for the front seats. By adding adult dummies on the rear seat in crash tests, Euro NCAP paved the way for these safety features to become available for all vehicle occupants. Pretensioners and load limiters are nowadays also installed on the rear seats of almost all new car models entering the European market.

However, even though your car may have the best seat belt system in the world, if you do not buckle up, you are putting yourself at high risks (one can be killed in a crash at speeds as low as 30 km/h)! A simple but effective function started to forge into the automotive world about 25 years ago: the Seat Belt Reminder (SBR).

Advanced SBR systems trigger an audio-visual signal, to remind the unbelted vehicle occupant to put their seat belt. On passenger seats, an occupant detection sensor checks whether the seat is occupied, and if the corresponding seat belt is not buckled, the reminder is activated. This SBR function has recently become a legal requirement for front row seats in many parts of the world.

In addition, almost every worldwide NCAP gives incentives if the same function is installed for the rear seats. Their key motivation: Rear seat passengers deserve the same level of protection as front seat occupants. Knowing that many people who typically buckle up on the front seats don’t do so when seated in the rear, it is even more important to have efficient SBR systems in the back of the car.

Unbelted rear occupants are not only exposed to serious hazard themselves. They are also a life-threatening danger for front seat occupants, who are twice as likely to be fatally injured if an adult occupant sitting behind them does not have the seat belt on.

Modern seat belt systems and advanced SBRs are a great combination to maximize the safety potential of the vehicle’s restraint system for any occupant. They have already saved many lives and will continue to do so.

At IEE, we are proud to continue to be a part of this evolving vehicle safety journey. Our SBR occupant detection sensors may be but a small, but highly relevant component in the overall function. Next time you drive, make sure your front and rear seat passengers are belted – unless the vehicle’s SBR system may have already taken care of it. Remember that the belt on the rear seat can also help save your life as a driver/ front seat occupant, not to mention that of your precious crew! Onward and upward.

Contributor: Thierry Mousel

Co-author: Silvia Martin