Visual Neglect Assessment and Rehabilitation using the Leap Motion

Visual Neglect is a common neuropsychological deficit associated with a person having a Stroke [1]. This deficit is manifested by a Stroke patient's inability to notice things usually in the left hand side of their visual space. This has a serious impact on their daily lives as they fail to notice obstacles while walking or leave half of a meal uneaten because they are unaware of its existence. Currently, pen and paper-based techniques are used to assess the presence of Visual neglect in patients and there have been a number of rehabilitative programs developed to try and ameliorate the symptoms of Visual Neglect with limited success [2]. Using the Leap Sensor, this project sets out to develop a novel measurement paradigm for the detection and diagnosis of visual neglect as well as laying the ground work for developing a novel rehabilitative intervention (a means of helping stroke patients to either recover from visual neglect or make adaptations do lessen the effect of visual neglect). In addition, we replace pen and paper tests with a web based system which enables professionals to complete such assessments of visual neglect virtually and archive their results.