Research and development work relating to assistive technology: 2020 to 2021

Presented to Parliament pursuant to section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.

Introduction

About this report

Section 22 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 requires a report to be placed before Parliament each year on progress made in government-funded research relating to equipment that might increase the range of activities and independence or wellbeing of disabled people, known as assistive technology.

Working with stakeholders, in 2001 the Foundation for Assistive Technology developed the following definition for assistive technology:

Assistive technology is any product or service designed to enable independence for disabled and older people.

This broad definition means that a wide range of products and services are eligible for inclusion in this report. As technology advances, the breadth of work covered is constantly expanding. The research covers not only specific products, but also systems, combinations of technologies and interfaces to mainstream technology such as the internet.

Furthermore, research focused on the wider neighbourhood is also eligible for inclusion in this report, which might include clinical and public health researchers working with engineering, housing, architects and urban planning experts to make improvements for disabled or older people.

In addition to addressing issues associated with physical health, developments in various types of assistive technology can also help people with mental health difficulties live more independent lives. These can often involve online and behavioural approaches rather than devices. Developments with a focus on mental health are also eligible for inclusion in this report.

For the purpose of this report, products and systems are further classified as assistive technology if their adoption and use is under some measure of control by the disabled or older end user, and there is a level of meaningful interaction by the end user with the product or system.

This therefore excludes telemedicine services such as videoconferencing between a general practitioner and a hospital consultant, which uses equipment in the hospital and GP surgery, as these technologies are primarily used by and operated under the control of healthcare professionals. Neither does the report feature research on implanted technologies over which the user has no control or interaction, such as hip replacements.

This report aims to reflect research relating to a wide range of impairments and conditions, and to cover research on service provision and patterns of use as well as development and evaluation of technologies. It highlights developments in priority setting and funding for assistive technology research and innovation, and some particular areas of research activity. The Annex (below) provides a list of government-funded assistive technology research and development projects current between June 2020 and May 2021.

Developments in priority-setting and funding

This section highlights developments in priority-setting and funding for assistive technology research and innovation. It provides:

a few examples of government funding related to assistive technology
any current or planned funding rounds or calls
developments of research networks that will shape the direction of new assistive technology research
any other planned work as a result of funding

James Lind Alliance (JLA) priority-setting partnerships

The JLA is a non-profit-making initiative that brings together patients, carers and clinicians in priority-setting partnerships (PSPs) to identify and prioritise the top 10 unanswered questions or evidence uncertainties in a particular health condition or setting.

The aim of the PSPs is to ensure that researchers and research funders are aware of the issues that matter most to patients and clinicians.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds the infrastructure of the JLA.

Over 100 PSPs have now been completed. During 2020 to 2021, research priorities were agreed for a range of health conditions and settings, including:

complex fractures
advanced heart failure
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) flare-ups
blood pressure in pregnancy

The stroke PSP, which started in 2019, published its agreed priorities in June 2021. A number of these priorities were topics where researchers may wish to include assistive technologies – for example, communication difficulties in stroke survivors and support for the long-term impacts on the abilities necessary for everyday life.

Among the top research priorities agreed by the recently concluded occupational therapy PSP was the question:

How does assistive technology, compensatory equipment and housing adaptations provided through occupational therapy impact on the lives of people who access services?

The PSP also prioritised the following uncertainty:

How can occupational therapists work effectively with digital technology to enhance their interventions and lives of people who access services (for example, using smart devices to manage health and illness)?

A new PSP in digital technology in adolescent inflammatory bowel disease was initiated in 2021. This exercise is likely to identify uncertainties related to assistive technologies when it concludes next year.

Current NIHR calls

The NIHR has a number of current and recently closed calls. These include:

invitations for research concerning different aspects of mental health and improving support for adult and/or older carers
proposals for developing programmes for ambulant children and adolescents with cerebral palsy

In addition, the NIHR is developing a broad focus on dementia research that involves any aspect of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, support or care, and related health and social care services. These calls may attract applications that evaluate assistive technology.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and NIHR partner to transform care and health at home, and enable independence

EPSRC and NIHR are currently exploring the possibility of commissioning research that focuses on transforming care and health at home and/or enabling independence. The focus will be on projects that address issues at the intersection of housing, social care and healthcare provision.

Potential areas in the scope include:

the role of assistive technologies in maintaining independence and health at home
larger infrastructure interventions and tools that enable informed decision-making on housing and care

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF): the Healthy Ageing Challenge

The UKRI ISCF addresses the big societal challenges faced by UK businesses today. It is made up of 23 challenges, covering 4 themes of the government’s industrial strategy:

clean growth
ageing society
future mobility
artificial intelligence (AI) and data economy

The Healthy Ageing Challenge supports businesses, including social enterprises, to provide the products and services that will enable people to remain active, productive, independent and socially connected across generations for as long as possible.

For example, the Blackwood Neighbourhoods for Independent Living project, based in Scotland, was funded through Innovate UK under this challenge. Some of the aims of this project relating to assistive technology are to:

design age-friendly homes
support social connections
create healthy active living places

The age-friendly homes will feature home automation and home health monitoring to enhance independent living. A digital hub will allow residents to play out their ageing journey through gamification, and set neighbourhood goals and rewards to share with other communities. In addition, a tablet device app will be designed to support residents in the neighbourhood with a range of services and information linked to their health and wellbeing goals.

As part of this challenge, a competition to support social enterprises in developing products and services that tackle some of the impacts of ageing was launched in July 2021 via the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI).

This initiative will provide funding of up to £150,000 for individual successful projects as a share of an overall £4 million investment. Successful projects may choose to tackle one or more relevant topics that include:

common complaints of ageing (impaired hearing, eyesight, mobility, deteriorating mental and physical wellbeing)
designing age-friendly homes
living well with cognitive impairment

Department for Education (DfE): education technology for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

The DfE published its Education Technology (EdTech) strategy in April 2019 on realising the potential of technology in education, which was supported by £10 million in funding.

As a result, the DfE launched a series of EdTech challenges to encourage change in the use of technology across the education system in England. Challenge 6 – ‘identify the best technology that is proven to help level the playing field for learners with special educational needs and disabilities’ – focused on assistive technologies.

The DfE is currently working with an assistive technology advisory group to help steer activity to support the challenge, and an ‘Assistive Technology Testbed’ programme was announced to develop the evidence base by hosting trials of technologies in 100 schools. To inform these and future activities, a rapid literature review on the use and impact of assistive technology on students with SEND was conducted from February to July 2020.

This review found strong evidence for the use of communication systems (augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices). These are known to improve the independence, educational outcomes and quality of life of students with SEND.

However, the review also highlighted that, despite their potential to provide students with the ability to access and engage with the curriculum on equal terms, assistive technologies currently remain underutilised in the educational sector.

These issues became more apparent during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, when many children with SEND experienced considerable difficulties and barriers related to the accessibility and availability of online learning management systems and materials, and appropriate assistive technology devices and services.

The latter finding has been supported by 2 reports focusing explicitly on development throughout the COVID-19 pandemic:

The National Disability Strategy: a new Centre for Assistive and Accessible Technology and other funding commitments

Published in July 2021, the National Disability Strategy sets out the actions the government will take to improve the everyday lives of the over 14 million disabled people who live in the UK.

The strategy was developed with the input of more than 14,000 disabled people, as well as disability organisations, businesses, policy experts and many others, and presents immediate commitments as well as longer-term plans of governmental departments and agencies that aim to enable people with disabilities to live full, independent lives.

These plans include a strong commitment to take full advantage of the potential of assistive technologies by investing up to £1 million in 2021 to 2022 in the development of a new Centre for Assistive and Accessible Technology.

Part 2 of the strategy details that the specific aims of the centre are yet to be established, but these may include acting as a central source of evidence and expertise, as well as piloting and helping to scale new models of delivering technology in a more joined-up, cost-effective and user-friendly way. Other aims may include ensuring more effective awareness raising, training and support around assistive technology.

The Disability Unit, responsible for the creation of the strategy, will lead this work. It will set the centre’s objectives by establishing the current and future assistive and accessible technology needs of disabled people in England, and will report on progress by summer 2022.

The National Disability Strategy also outlines a range of planned developments regarding research and innovation activities across several areas, such as public services, housing, shopping, jobs, education and transport. For example, the Department for Transport (DfT) plans to commission research into the design of bus stations and bus stops in England by April.

To improve disabled consumers’ shopping experiences, there are plans to explore a new assistive technology challenge around shopping, and to commission research to improve understanding of disabled people’s experiences accessing products and services in the UK.

Such research is likely to provide key developments and insights related to assistive technologies in infrastructure (for example, buildings and pavement) and assistive technologies themselves, as well as access to them (for example, home pages and devices enabling access to online shopping), which often act as key barriers to disabled consumers’ choices.

Having conducted a consultation on raising accessibility standards for new homes in England in December 2020, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (renamed the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in September 2021) is now commissioning new research to develop the statutory guidance on meeting building regulations covering access to and use of buildings.

This research is planned to provide evidence that will help to improve guidance and inform future policy. It will consider modern building design approaches, technology and building use and operation with regard to accessible housing and, therefore, will be highly relevant to assistive technologies innovation.

Research current in 2020 to 2021

This report details a wide breadth of research activity, supported by a variety of funders and host institutions. This section describes some of the studies that seek to explore the challenges and potential solutions affecting the independence of elderly and disabled people.

Ensuring safety and providing high-quality care throughout a pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the potential of assistive technologies to:

enable access to therapies and care from home
provide virtual support for elderly and disabled people, as well as their carers
ensure the safety of clinically vulnerable people when they interact with others

Consequently, several projects focusing on assistive technologies have been funded since the start of the pandemic that directly or indirectly help to address the challenges that arise when airborne and highly infectious viruses necessitate the minimisation of physical contact.

Innovate UK has funded several projects that focus on the development of assistive technologies that provide physical safety measures for clinically vulnerable people whose conditions make it difficult to adhere to official guidance around hand sanitising, mask wearing and social distancing as expressed in the ‘Hands, Face, Space’ public information campaign.

For example, wheelchair users are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 because it can be difficult to keep wheelchairs free of airborne or surface-based droplets. In addition, as they are below the height of most standing individuals, wheelchair users are at increased risk of having such droplets land on them or their equipment.

To address these issues, Centaur Robotics Ltd is developing personal electric vehicles (PEVs) that can better protect users from disease transmission because they are height adjustable, require less manual handling and are easier to clean. The wheelchair also helps to enforce social distancing through collision avoidance and visual, audible or haptic cues. Another component of this work is the evaluation of antiviral material that may further help to keep wheelchairs virus-free.

Another focus of this report is virtual platforms to help clinically vulnerable people and their carers to cope with social isolation, loneliness and the increased care burden resulting from shielding at home. For example, the NIHR is funding a team at Bangor University to evaluate the costs and benefits of iSUpport, an online learning and virtual support programme for carers of people living with dementia. As part of this project, researchers will also adapt the platform for young carers of people living with dementia with the aim of reducing their distress.

As caregiver breakdown is a common reason for the unplanned admission of older people into permanent nursing or residential care, this platform could, in the long term, lead to a decrease in care home admissions, and a reduction in health and social care costs.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also increased pressure on the NHS to allocate healthcare resources in the most efficient way while ensuring that urgent care needs are addressed. Developing assistive technologies that enable access to critical care and rehabilitation programmes from home are therefore highly important, and several projects focus on addressing this challenge.

For instance, a project funded by Innovate UK is developing one of the world’s first post-surgery prosthesis consisting of a soft, flexible device that can be fitted at home or via telemedicine within 24 hours of an operation. It enables prosthesis use and rehabilitation to begin straight away, allowing for critical early access to prosthesis while at the same time removing waiting times that frequently amount to over 6 months. The patented ‘soft-socket’ design means that the prosthesis can be fitted easily to a wide range of residual limbs in a similar way to a sock. The device also removes the intensive, expensive, hands-on nature of the prosthesis-fitting service. This way of working is likely to be associated with a reduction in the risk of amputees contracting COVID-19 at an appointment, while at the same time freeing up critical care resources.

Systems can also assist with the remote delivery of care or therapy, enabling end users to live independently for longer. Several projects in this report focus on the benefits and role of home-monitoring systems in providing care. For instance, Perspective Ltd’s eHomeCare system, funded by Innovate UK, addresses frailty by utilising novel indoor positioning and 3-dimensional pose analysis techniques to provide continuous assessment and trend analysis of numerous outcomes, including stability, falls and fall location. This information allows frailty to be accurately and objectively graded without the need for an appointment. The information is also used to guide an integrated remote physiotherapy application that provides real-time feedback on performance and allows personalised adjustment to the subsequent exercise programmes.

Finally, the data will inform improved self-care and timely interventions, and therefore contribute to reducing and potentially reversing frailty, reducing the frequency of falls and enabling better care-planning.

Supporting participation in public settings, and independence of children and adults with visual impairments

Visual impairments impact all areas of life, as visual cues help to orient us both physically and socially in new environments. Such cues may be especially important for children and young adults as part of acquiring social skills and becoming independent. A range of projects included in this report explore how assistive technologies can help people with visual impairments to orient themselves in their spatio-social surroundings.

For example, an EPSRC-funded studentship at the University of Bristol explores how AI can support the development of social skills of visually impaired children. Working with visual agent technology that is in development at Microsoft’s Project Tokyo, researchers are exploring how such technology might be used to empower children to develop awareness and understanding of others’ attentional patterns, as well as their embedding in spatio-social relationships.

Other examples include research focused on the benefits of glasses. Researchers at the University of Oxford, funded by the NIHR, are working on extending the use of smart glasses to a larger audience. These glasses have been shown to dramatically increase a person’s ability to see and recognise faces and obstacles, but they were of benefit to only 10{18fa003f91e59da06650ea58ab756635467abbb80a253ef708fe12b10efb8add} of people with central vision loss. The research team are now focusing on developing novel software solutions for these glasses to enable more people with visual impairments to benefit from regained independence.

As part of an extensive programme to better understand homonymous hemianopia (visual field loss that affects both eyes) in childhood, researchers at the Great Ormond Street Hospital are evaluating the use of prisms on glasses for children with this condition. This project is funded by Health Education England (HEE) and NIHR, and one of its aims is to review whether horizontal prisms, compared with sham glasses, help children with homonymous hemianopia in improving visual function and quality of life.

Navigating urban indoor spaces such as shopping centres or transport hubs is especially challenging for people with severe visual impairments and may prevent them from fully accessing public spaces. Recent developments aimed at allowing people to safely navigate escalators include, for example, ‘beacons’ that send signals to Bluetooth-enabled devices such as smartphones. However, such solutions have not yet been able to perform well enough to satisfactorily enable safe navigation.

Research funded by Innovate UK aims to develop a novel interface that allows the detection of beacon signals directly with the ‘smart’ cane device developed by WeWALK Ltd. This device screws on to a user’s existing cane, detects obstacles at knee to head height and provides audio-based navigation directly to a user’s smartphone.

By combining existing devices and infrastructure through a novel integrity-monitoring layer, the new indoor navigation system will provide high-accuracy and turn-by-turn indoor audio-based navigation for visually impaired people, thereby ensuring that they have full access to urban spaces.

Extending the utility of existing assistive technologies through novel software solutions

A range of projects in this report highlight how novel software solutions, such as platforms, systems and interfaces, can improve the utility of assistive technologies or enable a larger audience to use them. The indoor navigation system, discussed above, is an example of how such a software solution can expand the utility of medical devices and infrastructure systems by combining them. In this way, these solutions contribute to the efficient use of resources in the health and social care sector.

For people with reduced mobility, the ability to use a powered wheelchair can enable a larger degree of independence, and is associated with improved wellbeing and quality of life. An EPSRC-funded award at the University of Portsmouth aims to enable greater utility of such wheelchairs among disabled people. The study focuses on digitalising existing analogous assistance systems and developing AI solutions for wheelchair use that will make driving easier and, consequently, more accessible. These efforts include:

digitalising and redesigning several systems for collision avoidance and effort-reduction systems
wheelchair tracking
sensors that detect both the environment and the abilities of the driver

The redesigned systems will be connected via a new digital platform, and different AI techniques will be employed for different tasks within this platform. The result is a smart system that shares control between the wheelchair user and an intelligent sensor system, which will allow some people whose conditions (for example, lack of spatial awareness) have prevented them from independent wheelchair use to use a wheelchair independently for the first time.

Improving the autonomy of wheelchair users will also reduce the need for carers. Combined with the lower cost of digital over analogous systems, these new developments may also lead to cost savings for both the NHS and care institutions.

Approximately 11 million people in the UK live with some form of hearing impairment. A range of projects in this report focus on developing new software to address issues around hearing loss. The inability to distinguish speech in noisy environments and properly engage with audio communications in public environments may impact the ability of people with hearing impairments to participate in public life. For example, existing public ‘hearing assistance’ systems often require the user to borrow a receiver and headphones, which is impractical and unhygienic.

Alternative systems comprise induction loops that transmit audio directly to hearing aids but are often both costly to install and limited to telecoil-equipped hearing aids. Research funded by Innovate UK aims to address this issue and both improve the adoption of hearing assistance and widen access to its benefits by developing new fundamental technologies, devices and infrastructure for a new audio distribution system for public hearing assistance. By developing a new platform for direct-to-hearing aid communication, this system will extend the usability of users’ existing hearing aids.

Extending the utility of existing technologies by updating the software or replacing parts of devices instead of developing entirely new ones is not only a more sustainable solution but also more convenient for users. Research funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) aims to improve the use of cochlear implants. Cochlear implants are devices that provide a sense of sound to people who are severely or profoundly deaf by electrically stimulating the auditory nerve in place of the damaged sensory hair cells.

However, understanding speech in noisy environments is a major problem for cochlear implant users and can have a negative impact on their quality of life and mental health. By combining computational models simulating auditory nerve response with machine-learning algorithms trained to reduce interfering noise, the project contributes to a better understanding of the transmission of sound by cochlear implants. An optimised compensation strategy for the specific requirements of cochlear implant users will be developed and designed so that it can be integrated into the external speech processor of a cochlear implant without the need for surgical re-implantation of the implant itself.

Thus, the project will help cochlear implant users to overcome the communication challenges they face in their daily lives and improve cochlear implant use.

Annex: assistive technology research and development projects 2020 to 2021

Note: When compiling the data for the 2020 to 2021 report, each funding organisation was provided with a definition of assistive technologies, and a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria building on work previously undertaken by the Foundation for Assistive Technology (see Appendix below). Each funding organisation that contributed to the report was responsible for the identification and submission of projects to be included. The report was co-ordinated and produced by the NIHR.

ApplTree: personalised digital reminding to support memory impairment after brain injury

Project summary

ApplTree prompts reminder setting, supports reminder entry to improve accuracy and delivers users with prompts at the appropriate times. In this study, the features of ApplTree will be examined that suit participants with different needs based on cognitive ability.

A pilot randomised controlled trial will be conducted to provide crucial information to inform a future larger-scale efficacy trial of ApplTree as an intervention to support memory in people with acquired brain injury.

Contact

University of Glasgow

Funding organisation

Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care directorates (CSO)

Duration

January 2019 to December 2020

Knowledge by Design Inc

Project summary

Contact

University of Salford

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

October 2020 to September 2024

Project summary

This research focuses on the use of artificial intelligence to support the development of social skills of visually impaired or blind children by creating visual agent technology that helps them to develop awareness and understanding of spatial-social relationships.

See: Using artificial intelligence to develop joint attention in blind children

Contact

University of Bristol

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

October 2020 to September 2024

Mobile health technology for patients suffering with anxiety and chronic musculoskeletal pain

Project summary

The aim of this studentship is to develop a mobile health application that enables patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain to reduce their pain and improve their quality of life through managing their anxiety.

See: Mobile Health Technology for Patients Suffering with Anxiety and Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

Contact

Queen Mary University of London

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

January 2020 to December 2022

Sensorimotor learning for control of prosthetic limbs

Project summary

Insight gained through in-vivo experiments, exploratory studies involving able-bodied volunteers and pre-clinical work with people with limb loss will inform the design of novel algorithms to enable seamless control of prosthetic hands.

The research will culminate with a unifying theory for learning to control prosthetic hands that will be tested in an NHS-approved, pre-clinical trial.

See: Sensorimotor Learning for Control of Prosthetic Limbs – Newcastle University and University of Edinburgh

Contact

Newcastle University, transferred to University of Edinburgh

This research team seeks to develop a low- cost through-knee prosthesis, the initial concept for which has been developed by the applicants through prior work with partners in Cambodia. This will be developed further to create a pathway to support the translation of future technology projects and the development of a route to harness the technology development for those in lower and middle-income countries for the benefit of healthcare in the UK.

See: Low cost through knee prostheses – TaKeuP

Contact

Imperial College London

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

February 2018 to January 2021

Funding

Osteoarthritis Technology NetworkPlus (OATech+): a multidisciplinary approach to the prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis

Project summary

A network of academics, clinicians and industry representatives is looking to provide high-level evidence of the efficacy and safety of medical devices relating to musculoskeletal disorders and osteoarthritis through clinical studies and with a high degree of user involvement. The studies will involve biology, engineering and biomechanics.

The aim is to identify the challenges to technology development, which will help to ensure that future studies are conducted with the latest scientific advances incorporated.

See: Osteoarthritis Technology NetworkPlus (OATech+): a multidisciplinary approach to the prevention and treatment of osteoarthritis

Contact

Cardiff University

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

October 2016 to June 2022

Funding

£968,485

A robot training buddy for adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

Project summary

Funded by the EPSRC, the Socially Competent Robots (SoCoRo) project aims to develop a socially competent robot training buddy that will help adults with ASD to better deal with social signals in work-related scenarios.

See: SoCoRo: Socially Competent Robots – University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University

Contact

University of Glasgow and Heriot-Watt University

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration – University of Glasgow

January 2017 to September 2021

Funding – University of Glasgow

£355,563

Duration – Heriot-Watt University

November 2016 to June 2021

Funding – Heriot-Watt University

£711, 763

EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Prosthetics and Orthotics

Project summary

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Prosthetics and Orthotics has been established. This will address the national, and global, shortage of suitably skilled engineers and scientists to become future innovators in prosthetic or orthotic (P&O) technologies.

The centre will support a minimum of 58 doctoral students, whose studies will enable them to become leaders of the future.

See: EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Prosthetics and Orthotics

Contact

University of Salford

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

April 2019 to September 2027

Funding

£5,526,315

REST: Reconfigurable lower limb Exoskeleton for effective Stroke Treatment in residential settings

Project summary

The long-term goal of this project is to develop a nationwide robot-assisted home-based rehabilitation programme for stroke patients that builds on the technology and the experimental evidence originating from this proposal.

See: REST: Reconfigurable lower limb Exoskeleton for effective Stroke Treatment in residential settings – University of Leeds and King’s College London

Contact

University of Leeds and King’s College London

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration – University of Leeds

April 2019 to March 2022

Funding – University of Leeds

£1,065,414

Duration – King’s College London

April 2019 to March 2023

Funding – King’s College London

£412,534

FREEHAB: accessible, comfortable and adaptable wearable rehabilitation and assist devices

Project summary

The FREEHAB Healthcare Impact Partnership will develop soft wearable rehabilitative devices to assist in the rehabilitation around age-related musculoskeletal and neurological conditions.

See: FREEHAB: accessible, comfortable and adaptable wearable rehabilitation and assist devices

Contact

University of Bristol

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

November 2019 to October 2022

Funding

£1,181,154

Personalised approach to restoration of arm function in people with high-level tetraplegia

Project summary

This project aims to develop efficient methods for personalising assistive technology to restore arm function in people with high-level spinal cord injury. Using a combination of electrical stimulation and mobile arm supports, the project will use computational models specific to the individual’s functional limitations to produce patient-specific interventions.

See: Personalised approach to restoration of arm function in people with high-level tetraplegia – Keele University and University of Aberdeen

Contact

Keele University, transferred to University of Aberdeen

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration – Keele University

November 2018 to October 2019

Funding – Keele University

£386,807

Duration – University of Aberdeen

October 2019 to February 2022

Funding – University of Aberdeen

£268,665

Project summary

Research will focus on the novel use of sensors and inventing new shared control systems and AI to have a significant and positive impact on the lives of both current and potential powered wheelchair users.

See: Using artificial intelligence to share control of a powered-wheelchair between a wheelchair user and an intelligent sensor system

Contact

University of Portsmouth

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

December 2018 to April 2022

Funding

£465,562

Towards a multisensory hearing aid: engineering synthetic audiovisual and audiotactile signals to aid hearing in noisy backgrounds

Project summary

The aim of this fellowship is to develop a radically different technology for assisting people with hearing impairments to understand speech in noisy environments, namely through simplified visual and tactile signals that are engineered from a speech signal and that can be presented congruently to the sound.

See: Towards a multisensory hearing aid: engineering synthetic audiovisual and audiotactile signals to aid hearing in noisy backgrounds

Contact

Imperial College London

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

January 2019 to February 2021

Funding

£1,029,424

Environment and Listener-Optimised Speech Processing for Hearing Enhancement in Real Situations (ELO-SPHERES)

Project summary

The aim of the research is to have a better understanding of the problems that hearing- impaired listeners experience in noisy, multiple-talker conversations, particularly with regard to their:

abilities to attend to and recognise speech coming from different directions while listening through binaural aids
use of audiovisual cues

Virtual reality simulations of complex listening environments and audiovisual tests will be developed to assess listeners’ abilities, and will investigate how the abilities of hearing- impaired listeners vary with their degree of impairment and the complexity of the environment.

See: Environment and Listener Optimised Speech Processing for Hearing Enhancement in Real Situations (ELO-SPHERES) – University College London and
Imperial College London

Contact

University College London and Imperial College London

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration

October 2019 to September 2022

Funding – University College London

£554,976

Funding – Imperial College London

£587,008

Challenges to revolutionise hearing device processing

Project summary

These 4 individual studies will run a series of signal processing competitions (challenges) that will deal with increasingly difficult scenarios of hearing speech in noise. The data and tools will form a testbed to allow other researchers to develop their own algorithms for hearing aid processing in different listening scenarios, which will improve algorithms for hearing aid processing.

See: Challenges to Revolutionise Hearing Device Processing – Cardiff University, University of Sheffield, University of Nottingham and University of Salford

Contact

Cardiff University, University of Sheffield, University of Nottingham and University of Salford.

Funding organisation

EPSRC

Duration – Cardiff University

November 2019 to September 2024

Funding – Cardiff University

£287,990

Duration – University of Sheffield, University of Nottingham and University of Salford

January 2020 to December 2024

Funding – University of Sheffield

£371,114

Duration – University of Nottingham

November 2019 to October 2024

Funding – University of Nottingham

£251,509

Duration – University of Salford

November 2019 to October 2024

Funding – University of Salford

£287,990

A sensorimotor PROsthesis for the upper LIMB (PROLIMB)

Project summary

In this project, the research teams aim to model, design, fabricate and validate an affordable body-powered prosthetic fingertip digit with integrated mechanical haptic feedback.

See: A sensorimotor PROsthesis for the upper LIMB (PROLIMB) – University College London and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

Contact

University College London, and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

Funding organisation

assessing the potential of emerging technologies to enhance care system sustainability
developing case studies of emerging home care models
exploring how care technologies can be integrated to support working carers, ensuring wellbeing outcomes across caring networks

Designed originally in the context of defence, in response to COVID-19 the company aims to rapidly produce a basic version of its wearable platform for the care sector to help combat the effect of the virus.

See: Remote Monitoring of Elderly, Vulnerable, and Enhancing their Mobility, through Adaptive Intelligent Clothing (Single Platform Wearable) for Care Homes, Assisted Living and Personal Health and Remote Monitoring of Elderly, Vulnerable, and Enhancing their Mobility, through Adaptive Intelligent Clothing (Single Platform Wearable) for Care Homes, Assisted Living and Personal Health: R&D, Expanded Testing and Product-Market Engagement

Contact

Decorte Future Industries Ltd

Funding organisation

Innovate UK

Duration

June to November 2020

Funding

£50,000

Duration – R&D, expanded testing and product-market engagement

October 2020 to June 2021

Funding – R&D, expanded testing and product-market engagement

£169,740

CoCore – COVID community resilience and engagement

Project summary

This project aims to address societal challenges and potential life-enhancing opportunities, magnified by the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. The team intends to provide assistive technology and applications to enable individuals with disabilities to:

connect and communicate with professionals, family and friends, with minimal personal face-to-face visits
broaden their interests and social connections easily and safely
deliver basic and essential services remotely and securely

See: CoCore – Covid Community Resilience and Engagement

Contact

GDS Digital Services Ltd

Funding organisation

Innovate UK

Duration

June 2020 to March 2021

Funding

£73,689

E-textiles based wearable electrode garment for rehabilitation and active living

Project summary

This project will develop a wearable electrode garment (sleeve or cuff) that can replace the traditional disposable hydrogel electrodes used in electrotherapy devices. The garment design will enable users to use it on different parts of the body (arms, legs or joints), be easy to use and last for over a year. It will allow people to undertake regular exercise independently, leading to improved physical function, increasing wellbeing, and reducing strain on families, communities and the society.

Inclusive design of personal electric vehicles to protect against COVID-19

Project summary

COVID-19 disproportionately affects wheelchair users. Centaur’s personal electric vehicle (PEV) facilitates dignified, independent living but, more importantly, can better protect users from disease transmission by:

being height adjustable
requiring less manual handling
being easier to clean
helping to enforce social distancing through collision avoidance and visual, audible or haptic cues

Auditory scene analysis in acoustic and electric hearing

Project summary

This research team will use a combination of behavioural and electrophysiological techniques to:

study the neural basis of auditory scene analysis (ASA) in normal-hearing listeners
investigate its modulation by cognitive processes such as attention and language processing
investigate why it is impaired in cochlear implant (CI) patients
develop methods of improving auditory scene analysis and other aspects of hearing by CI users

See: Auditory scene analysis in acoustic and electric hearing

Contact

University of Cambridge

Funding organisation

MRC

Duration

July 2017 to March 2022

Funding

£321,000

Adaptive processing of spoken language

Project summary

The aim of this project is to use behavioural experiments, functional brain imaging and brain stimulation to understand the neural mechanisms that are critical for understanding spoken language, and allow healthy adult listeners to adjust to and learn from encounters with different forms of language.

A better understanding of these mechanisms will help us understand spoken language disorders following sensory impairment, brain injury or developmental disorders, and contribute to successful learning and rehabilitation in educational and clinical settings.

See: Adaptive processing of spoken language

Contact

University of Cambridge

Funding organisation

MRC

Duration

July 2017 to March 2022

Funding

£305,000

Project summary

This research will use cutting-edge auditory experiments to answer 2 key questions.

How does the auditory system join the multiple cues to location in complex, dynamic, multi-sound, audiovisual listening situations?
How does hearing impairment and aided listening affect this?

Insights gained may help us to understand better how spatial hearing works in real, everyday listening, and will help inform how future hearing aids might be designed to improve spatial hearing

See: Multi-modal cue integration for auditory spatial location by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners

Contact

University of Nottingham

Funding organisation

MRC

Duration

April 2018 to September 2022

Funding

£1,456,854

Understanding and alleviating hearing disability: the contribution of natural behaviours

Project summary

For hearing aids to be more helpful, they must adapt to the moment-to-moment changes in situation that are part of people’s everyday life, and the clinical prescribing of hearing aids needs to take more account of each patient’s individual lifestyle and activity patterns.

This project aims to provide insights that can form the basis of future improved hearing aid technology and prescribing by:

conducting experimental studies measuring how people move and change communication tactics when their hearing is challenged, which will result in a mathematical model
determining whether real-world hearing disability is driven by isolated events or by a ‘grand average’ of events over time
devising and testing hearing aid-fitting protocols that account for patients’ insensitivity to acoustic changes
developing prototype hearing aid technologies that exploit or support listeners’ natural behaviour
exploring whether or not routine clinical data can support more individualised prescription of interventions for hearing loss

See: Understanding and alleviating hearing disability: the contribution of natural behaviours

Contact

University of Nottingham

Funding organisation

MRC

Duration

April 2018 to September 2022

Funding

£2,883,896

A patient-centred device to improve hearing aid satisfaction

Project summary

The goal of this study is to assist the powered-wheelchair user – by monitoring joystick movement and providing sensors and display screens – to drive more safely and confidently, thereby enhancing their independence and quality of life.

See: EDUCAT (Empowerment of Disabled people through the User Coproduction of Assistive Technology)

Contact

Clinical Research Network Kent, Surrey and Sussex

Funding organisation

European Commission

Duration

Project summary

This research will evaluate the acceptability, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of implementing the GENIE intervention to reduce loneliness and unwanted social isolation of adults in a community setting.

See: The Project About Loneliness and Social networks (PALS) study

Contact

University of Southampton

Funding organisation

NIHR

Duration

March 2018 to August 2022

Funding

£1,157,358

Immersive virtual reality to transform the lives of patients with psychosis

Contact

Earswitch Ltd

Funding organisation

NIHR

Duration

February 2021 to January 2022

Funding

£149,995

Closed-loop electronic stimulation (ES) – mechanomyogram (MMG) sensor system for passive tremor suppression treatment

Project summary

This project aims to develop and clinically test a simple wearable armband that senses and suppresses tremor by delivering tiny electrical stimulation (ES), which is not felt by the wearer, to the forearm or wrist. The armband may work indefinitely, offering the potential for constant tremor suppression.

The team has already developed constituent elements of the system and proven their ability to sense and suppress tumour. This study has the potential to replace and/or complement current tremor treatment, eliminate side effects and improve quality of life for a very large patient population.

See: Closed-Loop Electronic Stimulation (ES) – Mechanomyogram Sensor (MMG) System for Passive Tremor Suppression Treatment

Contact

Serg Technologies

Funding organisation

NIHR

Duration

March 2021 to February 2023

Funding

£995,564

Revolutionary sensor for detecting faecal incontinence

Project summary

The research team has developed a unique technology that can reliably detect when a person has passed a stool in an incontinence pad. It uses an optical sensor to detect small quantities of fluorescence light produced by the bacteria present in faeces.

Project summary

The aim of this study is to better understand homonymous hemianopia (HH) in childhood and to evaluate the use of prisms on glasses for children with HH. Prisms on glasses for adults with HH have shown to be effective, but there is little evidence to support any sort of intervention in children.

This study will first look at the clinical characteristics of childhood HH, and its impact on affected children’s and young people’s visual function and visual-related quality of life. It will then evaluate the use of prisms on glasses to help (re)habilitation of children with HH, with the hope of informing current clinical practice.

See: Homonymous Hemianopia in Childhood

Contact

Great Ormond Street Hospital

Funding organisation

HEE and NIHR

Duration

July 2020 to July 2024

Funding

£251,747

Scaling a digital support system to reduce workforce pressure

Project summary

Brain in Hand (BIH) is a digital self-management support system used mainly by people who are autistic, and have learning difficulties and mental health challenges.

The system provides a unique combination of one-to-one human support and digital self-management technology accessed on a smartphone or other device that enables users to access help whenever and wherever it is needed. Through this, it helps people live more independently.

Brain in Hand Ltd is now increasing access to its services by advancing the product’s capabilities, and enhancing functionality, usability and the overall experience of users and service providers. It also aims to demonstrate the system’s effectiveness in meeting needs in autism services.

See: Brain in Hand Ltd

Contact

NHS England (NHSE)

Duration

October 2020 to October 2021

Funding

£99,486

Project summary

Upstream Health Ltd has developed a solution called Bridgit™. Bridgit provides a unique ecosystem of products that support patients to take the actions needed to keep themselves well, reassure family members that all is okay and enable stretched care teams to provide focused earlier interventions.

Bridgit uses Microsoft’s AI capability and cloud services along with new hardware devices (home hub and watch) that are specifically designed to be accessible by an elderly population, supporting them to stay well for longer in the places they want to be.

See: Bridgit care

Contact

NHSE

Funding organisation

October 2020 to October 2021

Funding

£582,417

Appendix

Assistive technology

Assistive technology is defined as follows:

Assistive technology is any product or service designed to enable independence for disabled and older people.

The setting is any public setting where the user is interacting with the technology and the user has a disability or is older.

Inclusion criteria

A product or service is considered to be an assistive technology if it:

is a technology or services that enables independence in people with disabilities or elderly people
is used in any setting except clinical settings
is a device to support hygiene (for example, drying devices such as a ‘carer dryer’ or others including a shower chair)
allows self-management or is a device allowing social cohesion for older people or people with disabilities
is population-based or involves major infrastructure where the technology or service is for disabled or older people (for instance, tactile pavement surfaces)
is a technology or service that benefits people who are caring for people with disabilities or older people (thereby giving indirect benefits to the person, such as delaying a move to a care home)

Exclusion criteria

A product or service is not considered to be an assistive technology if:

it is for use in clinical settings
its purpose is self-management of a chronic condition (such as diabetes)
the practitioner is using the technology (such as in healthcare)
it is population-based or involves major infrastructure (such as street design, housing or transport) where the technology or service is not primarily for people with disabilities or older people (even though they may benefit – the scope is too large)
it is a medical device dwelling inside or under the skin that has been surgically inserted

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the following people in establishing the inclusion and exclusion criteria:

Martin Knapp, Director of Personal Social Services Research Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Director of the NIHR School for Social Care Research
John Woolham, Senior Research Fellow at King’s College London, and Fellow of the School for Social Care Research
Catherine Henderson, Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at LSE

Examples of assistive technology

The following are examples of assistive technology:

apps
assistive technology
balance technology
bathing adaptation
brain stimulation
communication aids
communication therapy
computer games
computer therapy
computerised CBT
digital reasoning
electrical stimulation
electronic magnifiers
environmental assessment
exercise programmes
gaming environment
hearing aids
heel casts
humanoid robots
internet-based treatments
iPads
LEGO-based therapy
mandibular devices
mobile sensors
neck collars
night positioning equipment
one-session therapy
orthosis
ostomy pouch
rehabilitation devices
robot-assisted training
self-management programmes
sensor integration therapy
shared decision-making
shower chair
SMS
socio-technical solutions
standing frame
step highlights
support mattress
symbol communication aids
telehealth
urinary catheter
video feedback
virtual reality environment