CHARLES RIVER ANALYTICS, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: DHP14-007

Description

Soldiers displaying symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) need accurate, timely, in-theater assessment of symptoms. Often, initial assessment and diagnosis must be conducted by first-level responders who attempt to assess vestibular symptoms directly following a concussive event; however, these symptoms are often missed, not adequately evaluated, or misdiagnosed due to a lack of familiarity with the subtleties of impaired vestibular function. Based on a successful Phase I prototype demonstration, we propose to develop a full-scope system for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Vestibular Indicators of Soldiers’ Operational Readiness (ADVISOR). ADVISOR will provide a combination of over 15 different vestibular function screening tests (e.g., VEMP, SVV, DVAT, VEST-SOT), with an emphasis on screening Soldiers for fitness to return to duty (RTD). Tests are administered via the ADVISOR hardware, which uses COTS components to provide a low-cost solution that is optimized for use in theater. The ADVISOR software guides medical responders (e.g., Army Medics, Navy Corpsmen) to consistently administer assessments and correctly interpret the results. In Phase II, we will expand and refine the suite of supported tests, develop automated result interpretation capabilities, conduct refined system evaluations, and begin planning and execution of an FDA strategy to bring the device to