Ground-breaking ‘earbud’ test for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
A ground-breaking at-home ‘earbud’ test could pave the way for the early detection, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of serious brain diseases.
Researchers are developing and testing a novel electroencephalogram (EEG) system similar to a pair of in-ear headphones that maps brain activity during sleep and could help diagnose neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s from the data collected.
Serious brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are usually diagnosed too late for optimal treatment.
But this new project to develop and test scalable home health care technology could identify signs of the two diseases up to 15 years in advance – potentially revolutionising their prevention and treatment.
Researchers from Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen and Aarhus University have joined forces with the Danish health technology company, T&W Engineering, to push forward with the project, which has received DKK 15 million backing from the Innovation Fund Denmark.
This will see the specially developed measuring device tested on patient groups both with and without Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The aim is to examine whether it is possible to use the technology to screen patients for the two serious brain diseases.
The ear-EEG technology reads the brain’s electrical activity and gently maps sleep patterns. Recent research has shown that a person’s sleep patterns can indicate early signs of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The Ear-EEG is simple so it can be used at home and over a longer period. Credit: Aarhus University / Sebastian Krog Knudsen
Professor Preben Kidmose, who is the head of the Center for Ear-EEG at Aarhus University, said: “Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are diseases that creep up over many years. They’re usually only discovered when you start to develop cognitive and memory-related problems, sleep disturbances or disturbances in the musculoskeletal system, for example.
“Diagnosis is generally so late that the only treatment option is to treat the symptoms. In the project, we’re going to try to identify signs of the two diseases 10-15 years before the first problems begin to occur, and if we can, far better treatment options will be possible.”
Serious brain diseases are extremely burdensome for patients and their relatives. They are also a growing financial burden for the healthcare sector globally.
More than 10 million people are living with Parkinson’s around the world, and its prevalence has more than doubled in the past 25 years. According to the World Health Organisation, over 55 million have dementia, around 60% of whom live in low and middle income countries.
The small device being developed by the Danish project measures the extremely small voltage changes on the surface of the skin caused by electrical activity in the brain’s neurons, and is a far more gentle and less intrusive technology than traditional sleep measurements.
The Progression Assessment in Neurodegenerative Disorders of Ageing (PANDA) project device is also equipped with an oximeter to measure oxygen in the blood, a thermometer, and a microphone that can listen to breathing and heartbeat, much like a stethoscope.
Professor Poul Jørgen Jennum, doctor of Medical Science and head of the Danish Centre for Sleep Medicine at Rigshospitalet., explained: “We hope that we’ll be able to use the ear-EEG to replace in part the existing and somewhat more troublesome sleep monitoring. We’ll try to make the technology so simple that it can be used at home and over a longer period of time.
“Ideally, we hope it will be possible to measure your own sleep over a few days, weeks, or even months every year. The aim is to identify changes that may be early signs of serious brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and to diagnose patients more easily and earlier than today. This would be a great advantage.”
He continued: “Another advantage is that we can examine patients in their everyday lives, and monitor changes in sleep patterns and the effect of treatments. This makes the potential ear-EEG technology a good screening tool that can be used at home – just like a blood pressure meter.”
Ear-EEG can measure the electrical activity of the brain and map sleep patterns. Credit: Aarhus University / Sebastian Krog Knudsen
It was the opportunity to develop home health care technology that attracted T&W Engineering. The company’s specialist area is portable health technologies that provide a very accurate picture of patients’ health and provide more effective care, preferably at home.
The company’s CEO, Richard Tøpholm, said: “We want to support the vision of a patient-centric and data driven healthcare system, and we aim to have technological solutions in patients’ homes so that they don’t have to go to hospitals.
“Dementia is a major problem that we’ve been struggling with for a long time without getting very far, and the methods currently available are not scalable and not suitable for repeated measurements to trace or monitor disease progression.
“If we can develop solutions that involve patients in their own homes, we can begin to build up much better health profiles, so that we can assign patients for the more intrusive examinations and final diagnosis far earlier. I very much hope that we can help make a difference in this area, which means so much for so many people.”
The PANDA project will run for four years, and has a total budget of DKK 26 million.
Rigshospitalet’s role is to perform clinical tests and collect data, while T&W Engineering is responsible for integrating the various sensors into the ear-borne apparatus.
Aarhus University is responsible for developing the biomarker algorithms, and T&W Engineering will develop the diagnostic support system used by clinicians.
