FOR people with hand tremors, using a computer mouse can be arduous, or downright impossible. IBM believes it has a solution that will allow millions of people with this problem to use a computer normally.
Jim Levine, a researcher at IBM鈥檚 T. J. Watson Research Center in New York, has invented a mouse adapter that filters out the 鈥渘oise鈥� produced by shaky hand movements. Compatible with any computer, the adapter has a small microprocessor that digitally smoothes the motion data from the mouse. In effect, it suppresses rapid tremor oscillations, while leaving the slow, steady progress toward the user鈥檚 goal.
Levine first thought of developing his 鈥渁ssistive mouse adapter鈥� when he noticed his uncle, who has Parkinson鈥檚 disease, struggling to use a mouse. And, while people often associate hand tremors with Parkinson鈥檚, a far more common cause is a genetic disorder known as 鈥渆ssential tremor鈥�, which affects as many as 1 in 25 people.
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鈥淯sing a computer mouse is well known for being extremely hard for people with tremors,鈥� says Karen Walsh, manager of the UK鈥檚 National Tremor Foundation based in Romford. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e delighted to hear that a technology has been developed to address this problem.鈥�
IBM has licensed the product to UK-based firm Montrose Secam. The director of the company, James Cosgrave, has suffered from hand tremors since he was a teenager, yet despite this he spent most of his career as an airline pilot. For him, using a mouse proved to be a far more difficult task than flying a plane. 鈥淚 have used a prototype mouse adapter for over a year now, and it has literally transformed my life,鈥� he says.
