UNC scientists develop device for evaluating concussions

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - A device for evaluating concussion, designed by scientists at UNC-Chapel Hill, has caught the eye of the NFL and may one day be widely available.

The device, called "The Brain Gauge," is so easy to operate that it's hard to believe how much science actually went into its design.

"The point of the technology is to take very complicated science that does very complicated mathematics and make it completely accessible to anyone with a computer with a computer mouse," said Bob Dennis, one of two UNC scientists who designed it.

Like a game, "The Brain Gauge" sends a signal to either your middle or pointer finger on the mouse and you decide which finger you believe received the pulse.

"A lot of people do a lot of brain testing online. But there's no biological interface with those tests," said Mark Tommerdahl, the other scientist involved in the development. "You're just answering questions. The difference here is you're actually tested by using stimuli to the fingers that actually stimulate adjacent parts of the brain. And those places in the brain talk to each other in a very specific way."

"The Brain Gauge" is not so much a diagnostic tool as it is an effective way to evaluate the severity of head trauma, especially shortly after impact.

Read the full story at wncn.com

This project received funding in part from Carolina Kickstart, a commercialization service provide by the NC TraCS Institute.