Is there a problem diagnosing Parkinson’s?
Symptoms
- Symptoms of Parkinson’s are currently difficult to measure objectively after the patient leaves the doctor’s clinic, so new smartphone software has been developed at Ashton University to bring the doctor into the patients pocket to assess their movements and speech at home.
How does it work?
- Diagnosis is based on symptoms including tremor, stiffness and difficulty with movements and speech. The research team at Ashton has developed the software that uses the microphone and motion detector of a standard smartphone to provide data to supplement traditional clinical assessment.
Does it benefit the patient?
- Smartphone applications could play an important role in empowering patients to make treatment decisions based on quantitative data they collect for themselves.
Source – Institute of Neurology, University College London 2014