25 December 2017
Cosmos
Curated content from the editorial staff at Cosmos Magazine.
The positions of the right (red) and left (blue) eyelids during a stimulated blink are tracked over time using image processing.
Credit: Tsai NT, et al, IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, Epub Dec. 12, 2017. doi: 10.1109/JTEHM.2017.2782669.
The speed of a person’s blink reflex can reveal neurological damage and conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. It’s tricky to measure, though: until recently patients had to wear cumbersome and uncomfortable electrodes, which meant that the test was rarely used.
A new device using a high-speed camera a fast digital processing may change all that.
The device – called a non-invasive blink reflexometer – is described in a paper in the IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine.