Brain Games
A virtual reality based training for mTBI patients.
Mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) affect people across different careers, backgrounds, and socioeconomic statuses. From our brave veterans to athletes, to car accident and terrorist attack victims.
Any forceful motion of the head or impact that causes a brief change in mental status such as loss of memory or confusion usually results in a mild TBI. Recovery takes from a week to three months for people under 40, and even longer for those over 40. Approximately 15% of mTBI patients take more than a year to recover. Treatment involves rest and over-the-counter pain relievers, or a $10,000+ treatment that completes after a set amount of time rather than with the patient’s improvement.
Solution? Brain Games! We strive to architect and develop a virtual reality based multi-stage training to address two main concerns of mTBI patients: (1) short-term memory and (2) hand-eye coordination complications.
Our team is currently working on a memory module. The idea is to transfer research-backed trainings for improving working memory into the more immersive world of VR.
For the user, this means:
- Main goal: recall and match color-paired cards.
- Difficulty: depends on number of cards and colors.
Our future plans involve evaluating our training to see just how well could an immersive VR experience compare to a treatment offered by concussion clinics, and how independent could this treatment be?
Team: Revekka Kostoeva and Ilian Herzi (leads), Ahmet Oguzlu, Brian Wu, Boren Tsai.
