To Communicate with the World is to be Alive!

Nancy Cleveland is a nurse who has spent 30 years traveling around the world introducing people with severe disabilities to Eyegaze technology. Thanks to this technology they’re doing some amazing things with their lives. Hear the inspiring stories of what can be accomplished when all you’ve got is the use of your eyes.

Eye tracking devices like the Eyegaze Edge follow the movement of the eyes to allow a person to navigate the web and to type on custom screens to communicate. People living with disabilities and degenerative diseases are benefitting from eye tracking technology, including patients with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), multiple sclerosis, brain injuries, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries and more. Eye tracking devices allow users to use the power of their eyes to communicate with the world.

From ALS to multiple sclerosis, eye tracking technology helps numerous people living with disabling diseases to communicate with the world. Now, patients with a stroke-induced medical condition can be added to that list.

Locked in syndrome is a medical condition that can occur after a stroke that damages part of the brainstem, leading to the paralysis of the facial and body muscles but somehow leaving the eyes unaffected. Patients with locked in syndrome usually remain conscious of their surroundings but cannot move their bodies to or express themselves through facial expressions. Many of them can only communicate with the limited movements they can make with their eyes.

Children and adults with MD, SMA, and Werdnig-Hoffman can benefit from the ease of positioning of the Eyegaze Edge. Because the Eyegaze Edge works accurately in any position, users with these diseases find it very comfortable to use. Children with SMA as young as 15 months are able to use the Eyegaze effectively.

Quadriplegia resulting from spinal cord injury is another disability that can be aided by Eyegaze. The system is often an excellent tool for people who are ventilator-dependent and quadriplegic, especially if they are non-verbal. It is also being used by some people with spinal cord injuries who are verbal, or who are able to move their heads, but find direct-selection with the eyes a faster and easier method of computer access than alternative methods of row/column scanning, voice control, or mouth or unicorn sticks.

Many children and adults with cerebral palsy are also currently using Eyegaze systems to participate in school, from kindergarten through college, and in the workplace. Because controlling the eyes does not elicit a movement response in the body, many people with CP are proficient Eyegaze users.

 

 

How it works

Eye tracking begins with a camera mounted below a computer that views the user’s eyes. An infrared light illuminates the pupil and the eye-tracker analyses features of the pupil and cornea to determine where they are looking on the screen. After a simple calibration process, the system will then know where the user is looking as they select keys on the device using just their eyes. 

With the Eyegaze Edge system a user can

  • Call and Text
  • Speech Generation
  • Alarm for Caregiver
  • Wirelessly control a PC or Mac
  • Use the Internet
  • Operate infrared devices such as televisions, lights, room temperature controls and appliances remotely

What Eyegaze Edge users have to say

My arms and hands were deteriorating quite rapidly meaning I couldn’t work anymore. The Eyegaze saved my software engineering job. I can control a Mac and do everything with my eye that I used to do with my hands. I can respond to email, I can surf the web, and I can hold conversations…

Jim, Software Engineer

I can read books using Kindle, listen to music, email, surf the web, play games, and more. I am once again my old self. Without it I would be a prisoner in my body, with it I am the same smart guy I used to be, with the exception of being paralysed.

Curt, Michigan

For more information please visit Eyegaze Edge

For an Eyegaze Edge demonstration please contact us

 

Blogs on Eyegaze Edge

Top 18 Reasons Why Eyegaze Edge is the Best Eye-tracking Technology

Cerebral Palsy: Eyegaze Edge allows users with CP to participate in everyday life!

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