A revolutionary smartphone application is making strides in concussion detection by screening an individual’s brain in under a minute. This innovative tool, following a successful clinical trial involving nearly 350 Australian Football League (AFL) players in 2022, is now being implemented more widely.
The app functions by instructing players to track a dot on the screen while artificial intelligence monitors their eye speed and reaction time, delivering results in less than 60 seconds. Matt Palmer, the high-performance manager for the Victorian Football League (VFL), praised the app’s reliability, stating that it can swiftly identify whether a player requires further medical attention.
The results from the 2022 trial revealed an impressive 100% success rate in detecting concussions. Joanne Fielding, the Chief Scientific Officer at BrainEye, described the app as a “game changer,” indicating that such immediate assessment capabilities were previously unavailable, even in professional research environments. During the trial, 11 players across three clubs who were diagnosed with concussion were observed over two weeks, showing that the app provided readings consistent with their recovery status as confirmed by medical professionals.
BrainEye’s CEO, Steve Rosich, highlighted the technology’s potential to advance discussions on player safety and injury management in sports leagues worldwide. There are plans to extend this technology down to grassroots levels, enabling coaches to assess children swiftly following head injuries during weekend sports activities.
With ambitions to have the BrainEye app recognised as an official diagnostic tool, there is hope that this technology will play a crucial role in enhancing safety protocols in sports, ensuring better monitoring and care for athletes of all ages.