Electro-oculography mouse for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

Abstract

Severe amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients cannot move their muscles, and sometimes even respiratory muscles are affected so that they are obliged to mount artificial respiratory devices. Of course, patients of this severity stage cannot speak. These patients' remaining motor function consists of eye movement. Thus, the communication means for these patients is via their eye movement. Patients have previously used a transparent alphabetic table. But this is cumbersome for both the patients and the help givers, and it is also time consuming. A computer mouse whose cursor can be controlled by eye movement has been developed. The eye movement is detected by electro-oculography, and its click is realized by a voluntary blinking. By pointing a cursor to a specified letter on an alphabetic table on a monitor screen, a patient can describe his/her intention. This method has been found to be useful for severe ALS patients.