- Aug 04, 2018
Google Glass helps Kids with Autism Read Facial Expressions
In a a pilot study conducted by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, autistic children were were able to improve their social skills by using a smartphone app paired with Google Glass which helped them understand the emotions through people’s facial expressions. Autism is a developmental disorder affecting 1 in 59 children in the US. Autistic children showcase social and communication deficiencies and repetitive behaviors.
The app provided real time cues to the Google Glass worn by participants which help them understand facial expressions. The camera attached to the glass frame recorded the wearer's field of view and a small screen and a speaker gave them audio-video information of their environment. The app is able to detect and name the emotions of others to the child wearing Google Glass and with one to three months of regular use parents saw positive results. They reported their child was able to make more eye contact and relate to others.
Children with autism have to wait for as long as 18 months after diagnosis due to shortage of of trained therapists. According to doctors, a home based treatment system and therapy in the early stages will help in quick treatment. The Google Glass based therapy was called “Superpower Glass” to make it attractive to children. Traditional applied behavior analysis which uses flash cards of faces with different emotions may not always help children to transfer their knowledge into their daily lives
Google Glass Uses Eight Core Facial Expressions:
The smartphone app uses machine learning to recognize eight core facial expressions:- Happiness
- Anger
- Disgust
- Surprise
- Fear
- Neutral
- Contempt
Reviews from Families for Google Glass:
Families reported that Google glass was a fun and useful way of teaching their children. According to the results of the study, severe symptoms of autism had lessened however no family reported their child's symptoms worsening.Read more at med.stanford.edu