Accessible Eye Tracking Solution for Assessment of Cognitive Deficits in Alzheimer's Disease

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PROJECT SUMMARY Millions of Americans currently suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and the number is expected to escalate rapidly in the coming years. The disease prevalence has a significant financial and emotional impact on families, caregivers, and the healthcare system as a whole. Although there is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s, early disease detection and diagnosis of the disease can provide an opportunity for treatment and management strategies to enhance quality of life. Current assessment methods are either invasive, non-objective, or not available to the masses, and therefore fail to meet the use and capability requirements we need. An individual’s eye movement quality is an objective neurological heath indicator, but assessment has been limited to clinical visits with specialized equipment and training, and therefore has received limited adoption. This project will remove those limitations by producing an assessment that will utilize commonly available mobile device hardware and real-time data analysis to track and measure eye movements. The objective of this project is to develop an application that utilizes integrated mobile device cameras and algorithms to measure eye movement that can be used to assess and monitor age- and Alzheimer’s Disease related conditions. The measures from the mobile app will be compared to a hardware-based eye tracking system to determine the reliability and validity of the measures. Successfully completing these aims will result in an accessible tool that can effectively assess eye movement quality. The high accessibility, distribution, and usability of our application will provide an opportunity for early detection, therapies, and awareness of additional markers for the millions that currently are or are expected to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.