SyncThink Unveils Eye-Tracking VR Device For Concussion Assessment

Pasadena, CA – January 1, 2016 – Rose Bowl: The Stanford University Cardinal during the 2016 Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual (Photo by Scott Clarke / ESPN Images)

Detecting a concussion is a tricky process. For years players in different sports, namely football, have found ways to side step protocol only to make it back on the field. The NFL specifically has seen issues with its protocol, even with sideline physicians and spotters to identify players that should be removed from play and evaluated.

With troubles still arising in detection, SyncThink has created something called EYE-SYNC — a comprehensive tool to assess ocular-motor synchronization & vestibular balance dysfunction.

Built as a portable VR headset, EYE-SYNC delivers accurate results in less than one minute. It does this by tracking an athletes’ eye-movement, which will show if the brain is functioning correctly. The product is based on more than 10 years of clinical research and is FDA-cleared.

Dr. Jam Ghajar, neurosurgeon & Director of the Stanford Concussion and Brain Performance Center explained how EYE-SYNC works in an interview with CBS, saying, “What we do is, we have VR glasses with a red dot going around a circle and cameras inside the glasses so you can actually see where the eyes are moving. We see how well the eyes synchronize with the visual stimulus, the dot going around the circle. The test is 15 seconds, it’s repeated twice, and then a report comes out, so the whole process is very quick, generally under a minute.”

An accurate concussion assessment in under a minute has to sound like a godsend for most sports. It’s already helping the Stanford football team as it adopted the tech at the start of the 2015 season, according to CBS. Stanford is the first institution to utilize EYE-SYNC for all of their teams and student-athletes, according to Stanford director of athletic training Scott Anderson.

“Previous concussion technologies are relegated to desktop computers and are used in a laboratory setting or in a clinical environment,” Anderson said in a video. “EYE-SYNC is the first, and only, sideline assessment tool utilized for concussions. We’re in a day and age now where student-athletes don’t want to take someone’s word for it. They want to be shown the proof that they shouldn’t be playing and the EYE-SYNC product makes it very easy for us to do that — to show us when they are impaired versus when they’re back to normal or when they have normal ocular function.”