Health: when connected glasses care

Connected glasses are more and more elaborate and today allow us to improve our daily lives. But did you know that they could also heal? You are told how Augmented Reality can serve patients with autism, mental illness, or phobias.

The Google Glass against autism

This is the brilliant idea of ​​researchers at Stanford University to help children with autism through Google Glass . Connected glasses, which are no longer available for purchase for the general public, are still used in a professional setting. The concept of Autism Glass : helping children analyze and recognize the facial expressions of people around them, which they usually have trouble doing because of their illness. Connected glasses send images of faces to an artificial intelligence, which will display real-time clues to their emotions. Children with autism can therefore rely on this information to recognize them. This data is also sent to a mobile app , available to parents and the doctor, who can monitor the child's progress. The technique is currently still in the testing phase but the first studies were conclusive.

Note that other devices to help people with autism through robotics exist, such as robots Milo and Leka .

Virtual reality at the service of mental therapies

In addition to autism, some doctors are considering using connected glasses to cure addictions (alcoholism, smoking) and mental illnesses . The idea is to confront people with their blockages, to gradually help them face them, in the form of audiovisual therapies .

The concept was even talked about at the World Congress of Mobile Telephony in Barcelona last February, On this occasion, the CEO of Telesoftas , a company that designs software, had explained the usefulness of these therapies , which place the patient in a secure environment . The Lithuanian company has just received European funds to finance the development of mental health applications for virtual reality glasses , in collaboration with universities.

The connected glasses anti-phobias

The fight against phobias is also part of these mental therapies , which owe a lot to virtual reality . At the origin of one of these projects a bit crazy, there is Eric Malbos , a psychiatrist fan of video games and science fiction. His idea ? Exposing patients to their phobia can eliminate it. For an acrophobe, for example, several augmented reality sessions could help heal the fear of emptiness. This is where the connected glasses come in , allowing the patient to be propelled on a high balcony, for example, and to familiarize him with his sensations and fears, without risking a crisis of anxiety. To further minimize the risks, patients can choose the situation in which they wish to be immersed.

The idea has also sprung up in Portugal, in the spirit of the founders of the startup Psious . The company designs applications for psychotherapy, which can be used with any virtual reality headset .

So, convinced of the effects of mental therapy through connected glasses? 😉