Innovation of the week: A virtual reality headset that can diagnose concussions

Virtual reality could soon help doctors quickly and accurately diagnose concussions, said Daniel Terdiman at Fast Company. The FDA recently approved a virtual reality headset called Eye-Sync that checks the wearer for abnormal eye movement, a telltale sign someone has suffered a concussion. The patient looks into the device, which then records and analyzes eye movements to make a diagnosis "in less than a minute."

Boston-based maker SyncThink sees it as a natural fit for sports, "given how quickly the device can alert medical staff to a player's out-of-sync brain activity after a collision." Stanford's football team already uses the device to screen athletes who have been in serious on-field collisions before returning them to play. The device joins a growing number of medical uses for virtual reality, from treating patients with PTSD to surgical training.

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