Synopsis
Technological breakthroughs in modern day Pupillometry have increased knowledge of pupillary dynamics. Pupillometry has helped focus such applications as diagnosing Alzheimer's disease, human fatigue, and chemical/substance abuse and for other ophthalmologic diagnostic applications. For these and other applications, it is important to monitor the time?response of the pupil as the eye is subjected to various lighting conditions. A Pupillometer flashes a beam of light on the subject's eyes and records their pupillary response.
Experts agree that the development of an accurate, cost-effective, portable Pupillometer would aid in detecting impairments caused by fatigue, alcohol/drug, bio-chemical and biological substances. To apply this body of knowledge outside of the laboratory has been difficult due to a lack of practical, cost-effective instrumentation that could be readily applied by Law Enforcement, Transportation, Military, and Rail and Heavy Vehicle operations. Specifically, the pupillometers have suffered from problems including alignment size/complexity, and cost. MCJ, Inc. has developed and initially demonstrated a technology that has overcome these problems.
The Pupillometer resembles a large pair of binoculars. The test subject raises the Pupillometer to his/her eyes and holds it there during the test. The Pupillometer will determine when proper alignment occurs with the test subject's eye and then initiates a flash of light originating from two green light emitting diodes (LED's). The duration of the flash is approximately 100 milliseconds. The flash will cause the test subjects pupils to contract rapidly and then begin to dilate. The Pupillometer will measure the contraction and dilation of the pupil over a 3-second period starting when the LED initiates its flash. The test will be repeated another 2 times and at the conclusion of the final test, the Pupillometer will determine an average of the 3 tests. Algorithms have been developed with a PASS/FAIL indicator.
This non-invasive Pupillometer is designed to give a strong indication that the Test Subject is impaired by Bio-Chemical Inhalants, Biological Agents, Alcohol or Drugs. Second, the device is designed to give reliable indications of these impairments. The Pupillometer will reduce job related accidents caused by impairment increase highway safety, and decrease damage to property and lost productivity due to injury; almost every industry would benefit economically and socially.
Back
|
