abstract demonstration times april 22, :00am, 9:30am, 1:00pm University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering Department of Neurology Department of Bioengineering authors: Anand Allam Sam Fort Amneet Sandhu advisors: Dr. David Solomon Siddharth Deliwala Diagram 2 : The SAVR main menu page on the Palm Vx. Diagram 3 : The therapy program page, showing the 4 available exercise types and parameters required to initialize the programs. Diagram 1 : The SAVR system flowchart. motivation of project what is the frequency of inner ear disorders? The problem of dizziness and disequilibrium is significant, second only to lower back complaints in frequency of occurrence in adult populations. Dizziness itself is not a disease but rather a symptom of a problem within the nervous system. There are many causes of dizziness; however, most are from problems with the vestibular system. what are inner ear disorders? Inner ear or vestibular system disorders often are due to the blockage of signaling from the inner ear to the brain due to sinus illnesses or head injuries. Initially, this blockage materializes as feelings of dizziness upon movement of the head, leading to difficulties in daily function and nausea. The body usually adapts after several days despite the garbled signal from one ear. When the illness dissipates and the signal blockage is removed, the body again faces difficulty adapting which again leads to nausea and vertigo during head movements. In response, many patients stop turning their heads and instead turn their full body to look in different directions. what is vestibular rehabilitation and exercise? Vestibular rehabilitation is an exercise approach to the remediation of disequilibrium and dizziness symptoms associated with vestibular problems. Vestibular rehabilitation is a form of treatment involving specific exercises designed to (1) decrease dizziness; (2) increase balance function; (3) increase general activity levels. Thus an exercise program was devised to promote compensation for the inner ear deficits by re-instructing patients to use their necks properly. At present, two note cards placed at a prescribed distance away on a wall are used to direct an exercise of head movements. The microcontroller driven SAVR system uses this same sort of technique while recording exercise feedback to improve the quality of rehabilitation. Patients are asked to exercise daily at home and to visit the physical therapist or occupational therapist. The SAVR system simplifies this process and allows therapists to more closely monitor patients without their physical presence. device functions The basic function of SAVR is to improve the speed, quality, and efficiency of rehabilitation for patients with vestibular disorders. A variety of exercises are implemented on the device through different programs selected based on the patients’ needs and the physician’s directives. After exercise sessions, the device intelligently gathers and organizes data. This data along with patient feedback can then be remotely sent to a physician’s computer for analysis. Also, SAVR gives neurology patients with vestibular disorders an easy to use, take-home rehabilitation device in a compact and lightweight package to aid in their therapy. device operation The basic operation of SAVR is through three subunits. Exercise begins by using the Palm to initialize the HC11 followed by exercise selection. The exercise and performance results are then handled by the HC11. The results are then passed serially to the Palm. The Palm then organizes the data into a database to display to the patient and to send to the physician. The file is sent from the Palm to the physician’s PC via modem using FTP. sensor assisted vestibular rehabilitation The Sensor-Assisted Vestibular Rehabilitation System (SAVR) is a take-home rehabilitation device that implements exercises for patients with vestibular illnesses. SAVR improves on current crude rehabilitation methods based on the proven Cawthorne- Cooksey method of therapy while providing the moderating physician with exercise control and feedback. Also, SAVR provides effective options to achieve optimal recovery through a variety of exercises and the ability to create exercise routines. Further, the SAVR system is equipped with a modem for file transfer of exercise results to the doctor. This feature of remote communication coupled with portability provides an effective method for doctors to monitor to patients with vestibular illnesses in an inexpensive package. The systems implementing SAVR can be split into three subunits: (1) exercise: real-time communication between board and microcontroller; (2) data transfer: communication between microcontroller and a Palm; (3) data transmission: communication between the Palm and the therapist’s PC. The patient wears a laser apparatus on his head and points it towards a board (wall mounted or free standing) cover with 9 laser receptors (solar cells) and LEDs. The board is attached to a microcontroller, which directs head movements by illuminating various LEDs and stores performance data. This data is sent serially to the Palm, which in turn sends the data via the Palm modem to the therapist’s PC. By providing the patient with an easy to use device and the therapist with remote exercise control and feedback, it is anticipated that SAVR will reduce doctor office visits and improve recovery time. Diagram 4 : SAVR system operation layout.