(Huntsville, Ala. | June 1, 2022) – The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded CFD Research a grant to further develop a novel game-based application to help adults recover and rehabilitate from vestibular issues and improve outcomes.
“Vestibular rehabilitation has been proven to be effective in reducing dizziness and falls in older adults, but patient adherence is a major problem, with recent research showing that less than half of patients complete their rehabilitation,” said Dr. Paulien Roos, CFD Research Principal Investigator for this project. “Previous research has shown that the use of remote monitoring and gaming elements have the potential to solve these issues, even in an older population.”
CFD Research is developing the vestibular rehabilitation app to be used by older adults at home. The goal is to improve rehabilitation adherence through gaming, self-management, and remote monitoring. The vestibular rehabilitation components are package in a user-friendly app, compatible for both phones and tablets. The app is easy to navigate and allows for individualized rehabilitation for older individuals. This approach allows simultaneous clinical monitoring of patient progress during exercise performance. Additionally, progress is shared securely and privately with a clinician via the cloud and a web-portal, allowing patients to perform the rehabilitation at their home and the clinician to monitor how well their patients are performing during their exercise. By improving patient engagement and enjoyment, rehabilitation adherence should also improve.
Previous work was successful in demonstrating the feasibility of this approach. In this new project, games are added to cover a full at-home rehabilitation session while improving the usability of the app. In addition, machine learning algorithms are developed to provide real-time feedback in case exercises are performed incorrectly. This ensures patients perform their exercises properly when at home. As in earlier work, clinical collaborators provide continued guidance and testing throughout development to ensure clinical relevance and to promote adoption during commercialization. The CFD Research team collaborates with Dr. Linda D’Silva from University of Kansas Medical Center to consistently test the app in a clinical trial.
“This project uses a novel approach in that it develops rehabilitation games specifically designed for vestibular rehabilitation through a mobile app tailored for an older population that allows patients to perform rehabilitation at their home, while being monitored by a clinician,” noted Dr. Kapil Pant, CFD Research Executive Vice President for Biomedical & Life Sciences. Dr. Pant added, “Successful implementation of this program will reduce falls and improve quality of life for patients.”
The team is commercializing the software under Airen Health Solutions (www.airenhealth.com) and will make it available to patients soon.
About CFD Research: Since its inception in 1987, CFD Research has worked with government agencies, businesses, and academia to provide innovative solutions within the Aerospace & Defense, Biomedical & Life Sciences, and Energy & Materials industries. Over the years CFD Research has earned multiple national awards for successful application and commercialization of innovative technology prototypes, multi-physics simulation software, multi-disciplinary analyses, and expert support services. CFD Research’s impressive three-year growth rate was high enough to recognize the company in the Inc. Magazine’s 5000 for the second year in a row. CFD Research is an ISO9001 and AS9100 registered company and is appraised at CMMI Level II for services. Learn more at www.cfd-research.com.
