ISU Introduces VR Eye-Tracking Tech to the Sidelines

In light of recent studies suggesting a correlation between contact-sport brain injuries and long-term medical ailments, Iowa State University has enlisted the help of SyncThink’s EYE-SYNC technology to assess athletes’ readiness to return to play.

ISU’s football and wrestling programs will be the first to try out the new virtual reality analytics platform, with staff being trained to incorporate the technology on the sidelines to make a rapid and unbiased concussion assessments.

According to SportTechie, EYE-SYNC has the ability to measure impairments in one minute through the assessment of “ocular-motor synchronization deficits,” while at the same time eliminating human influence on the decision to return to play.

ISU’s director of sports medicine and associate AD Mark Coberley released a statement saying, “Utilizing EYE-SYNC with our other technologies is allowing us to more easily identify possible concussions, determine appropriate return-to-play decisions and, as importantly, target and evaluate identified areas of dysfunction that can be addressed more effectively during the recovery process.”

Chief customer officer at SyncThink Scott Anderson stated, “I’m excited for [ISU] to see the value our technology will bring to their sidelines and injury clinic and, most importantly, to know their student-athletes will be comforted by seeing objectively how their impairments resolve with appropriate treatment, ensuring safe return to sport.”

ISU plans to expand the use of the virtual reality concussion assessment technology into other sports in the near future.