Clinical Applications
Anxiety and Depression
Mental health problems are some of the most challenging issues facing the field of medical science today.
According to the World Health Organisation WHO “rates of already-common conditions such as depression and anxiety went up by more than 25% in the first year of the pandemic, adding to the nearly one billion people who were already living with a mental disorder.”
In Europe the rate of depressive behaviour amongst young people (18-29) doubled in some countries between 2019 and 2021 and around half of young people in the EU reported unmet needs for mental healthcare services in Spring 2021, double that of adults.
In the UK around 1 in 6 (16%) adults experience moderate to severe depressive symptoms and around one in three (34%) adults experience high levels of anxiety; this is slightly higher among younger adults aged 16 to 29 years (42%) and women (37%). An estimated 8 million people in England with mental health problems cannot get specialist help because they are not considered sick enough to qualify.
It does not have to be this way.
Recent advances in social signal processing and affective computing have made it possible to automatically measure many aspects of human behaviour in terms of behaviour primitives (e.g. facial expressions, head movement, speech pattern) and use these methods to measure mental health conditions like depression and anxiety, in a more objective manner, in real time and with little human intervention.
We have used B-Healthy to develop two Apps, Avocado and True Blue which objectively and automatically analyse face and voice data and interpret expressed behaviour to help clinicians, patients and their friends and families assess, treat and monitor health, mood and mental state.
We are now working with Nottinghamshire NHS Trusts to undertake trials to evidence the clinical safety of the technology in an app designed to assist in health assessments of pregnant women.
ADHD and ASD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are neurodevelopmental conditions which can be difficult to diagnose as it involves behavioural observation by experts for an extended period of time. This can be subjective, costly and time consuming. At BlueSkeye, we provide technology to automatically detect behavioural biomarkers of these neurodevelopmental conditions using state-of-the-art face tracking and body pose estimation tools. Our technology is intended to support clinicians in making objective and earlier diagnoses, which will save invaluable time and result in considerable cost savings.Get in touch with us to discuss how we can work together to tackle real world clinical issues.
Behavioural Bio Markers
The advent of mobile technology has made capturing visual and audio data ubiquitous. This has opened up new avenues for diagnosis of mental health conditions using automated behaviour analysis. At BlueSkeye AI, we believe in developing “explainable” AI solutions which involve research in automatic detection of known biomarkers and finding new biomarkers for various mental health conditions. Our world leading face tracking and pose estimation technology provides an ideal platform for research into behavioural markers of various mental health conditions. The capacity to detect such biomarkers can potentially transform healthcare, by aiding with earlier and more objective diagnoses, while at the same time resulting in enormous time and cost savings.
Pain Estimation
Accurate and reliable measurement of pain has a wide range of applications in healthcare, ranging from diagnosis and monitoring of medical problems to evaluating the effectiveness of therapies. A standard way of measuring pain is via self-report. However, measuring pain via a self-report scale can be quite subjective and is limited in the sense that it cannot be used for people who find it difficult to articulate or describe their pain (e.g. young children). Pain estimation using facial cues (expressions) is a promising alternative which can be used to solve the aforementioned problems. It also opens up the possibility to make the pain measurement task completely automatic. At BlueSkeye AI, we provide solutions for automatic and objective measurement of pain from facial cues. Our solutions are based on our well proven state-of-the-art face tracking and facial expression recognition technology. We offer reliable and cost effective tools which can be easily integrated into your existing systems.
Clinical Trials Support
Clinical trial support for new treatments in mental health
BlueSkeye AI, we understand the importance of conducting clinical trials to prove the safety, usability and efficiency of your healthcare product. In particular, we specialize in AI-based mental health assessment tools which aims to provide reliable and objective measures of mental health. Our technology can be used for regular self-monitoring of mental health conditions and hence provide an ideal platform for evaluating the effect of any treatment. Newly proposed treatments at the clinical trial stage can benefit greatly from our tools by generating evidence in support of their performance, in a cost-effective way.Get in touch with us to discuss how we can work together to tackle real world clinical issues