Therapeutic Training Device for Autism Eye Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often struggle with joint attention and reduced attention to the eye region, limiting their ability to interpret and interact with information communicated through the eyes, and current therapies do not effectively address these challenges.
Innovation Solution
A therapeutic training device worn by a therapist, featuring a video display positioned over the therapist's eyes that can adjust opacity to allow the patient to see the therapist's eyes through the media content, using eye tracking technology to automatically adjust the opacity based on the patient's eye contact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a video display is positioned over the therapist's eyes to show media content, then the patient's attention to the eye region is improved, but the therapist's eyes become invisible to the patient
Solution Approach 1:
The video display is made partially transparent rather than completely opaque, allowing different regions of the display to have different optical properties. This enables the media content to be visible while simultaneously allowing the therapist's eyes to be seen through the display, resolving the contradiction between attracting attention to the eye region and maintaining visibility of the therapist's eyes
Solution Approach 2:
The partially transparent video display acts as an intermediary element between the media content and the therapist's eyes. It mediates the visual interaction by allowing both the media content and the therapist's eyes to be perceived simultaneously, enabling the patient to attend to the eye region while still seeing the therapist's eyes
2Reliability
If the opacity of media content is increased to maintain focus, then the patient's attention is sustained, but the ability to see the therapist's eyes is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The video display's transparency is made dynamic and adjustable rather than fixed. The opacity can be modified based on therapeutic needs, allowing the system to adapt between maintaining attention (higher opacity) and enabling eye contact (lower opacity), thus resolving the contradiction between attention reliability and eye visibility
Data Source
AI summary
A therapeutic training device configured to be worn on the face of a therapist and capable of displaying media content to a patient with ASD, wherein a level of the displayed media content may be adjusted to permit the patient to see the eyes of the therapist through the media content.