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An app that promises to detect diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, using a Pixel 4’s camera to examine a patient’s pupil.
Developed by researchers at the University of San Diego, California, it once again confirms the potential of smartphone cameras, which have proven to be effective in diagnosing many diseases.
How the app works
deepening
Alzheimer’s, the diagnosis thanks to a resonance analyzed by the AI
Led by Professor Edward Wang, the researchers analyzed the functions of the Pixel 4 smartphone to understand how it can be used to monitor health and help diagnose diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. As explained in an interview with The Verge, the eyes, and especially the pupil, are a metric for detecting Alzheimer’s. By recording their response to specific tasks and the way the pupil reacts to certain commands, it would be possible to analyze cognitive disorders, even through an app. The Pixel 4, currently surpassed by the Pixel 5 and Pixel 6 hardware, lends itself to this analysis thanks to the cameras equipped with infrared rays used by Google for facial unlocking.
Possible applications
As explained by the researchers, infrared technology is able to detect the difference between the color of the eyes and the pupil more accurately than a standard sensor, which studies the spectrum of visible light. According to the researchers, this smartphone measurement could represent a first screening approach to patients at risk of Alzheimer’s, while reducing the costs of laboratory tests that require more time and machinery by tens of thousands of dollars.