Oh dear .... I wish this was an April Fools Day joke, but the technology has actually been around for years - only in the form of very clunky, expensive and in a" big box" format. Now it's an phone app.
Have we now missed the boat? The wharf? Maybe even the Port? The last sentence is the killer comment, its all about the parents!The Australian 1 April 2025
BrainEye app delivers 100 per centconcussion detection rate
A new smartphoneapp has emerged as a powerful tool in the battle against concussion after delivering stunning results in an AFL-backed clinical trial. The new BrainEye app could be set for mass take-up at grassroots and community sporting level across the globe after tests on 348 AFL players in 2022 delivered a 100 per cent success rate helping detect concussions. The groundbreaking technology involves a 60-second test and world-leading eye-tracking technology which can alert players to worrying changes in their brain function after head knocks and whiplash incidents.
The test requiresparticipants to track a moving dot on a screen and is considered the onlyobjective and economical test of its kind, according to researchers. Importantly,the new weapon will give parents and sporting participants the ability to helpdetect players’ concussion from the palm of their hands on the sidelines.
The results of theMonash University trial were published in the medical journal Sports Medicineand have fuelled hopes the technology will give parents and players moreclarity and peace of mind amid the difficulties of detecting concussions atlower sporting levels.
The app does notdiagnose concussions, but alerts users to changes in brain function compared tobaseline norms, and flags the need for medical attention.
AssociateProfessor and BrainEye chief scientific officer Joanne Fielding, who hasstudied neuroscience for 25 years, said the technology was “trulyrevolutionary”. “If I had this in my hand 20 years ago when I was a parentsitting on the sidelines, I would have felt much more comfortable with my childplaying on after a collision,” Fielding said. “You are looking at a moving dotas it moves around the screen and any deviation from your normal (eye movement)is a red flag in a sense". “It doesn’t evenrequire a head knock for a concussion to take place from a hard tackle or aheavy landing. It doesn’t even have to involve the head. “As long as there is awhiplash action of the neck you are at risk. “But if you have got a tool whichwill tell you in terms of whether their brain function is his or her normal,then that is your first step (to a concussion diagnosis).”
Fielding saidsubjective tests are more difficult to perform at grassroots level withoutprofessional medical assistance. “You have got very few tools which can helpyou,” Fielding said. “Asking your child to count backwards. Think of the SCAT(test) and the way those (memory assessment) questions are asked. “It is notsomething you may want to do in the first place as a parent on the sidelines. “Thisis the first really objective measure that (identifies) something is changingin the context of brain function.”
BrainEye CEO SteveRosich said the AFL study was “successful validating the technology” afterrecent regulatory approvals as a medical advice. Interest has come frominternational soccer, rugby and ice hockey leagues. “Numerous sporting leagueshave reached out internationally because unfortunately concussion is a globalissue in sport and we are pleased to be able to offer a unique solution toassist in its detection,” Rosich said.
“In an idealworld, we would love for this to be in the hands of parents around the world.”
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