New earpiece can detect onset of epileptic attacks

A small earpiece similar to a hearing aid capable of registering brain activity in epileptics and, thanks to artificial intelligence, capable of digitising the data, filtering it and detecting beforehand the onset of an attack has been jointly developed by the Corachan clinic, the MJN Neuroserveis company and the Mobile World Capital. The MJN-Seras device was successfully tested in a clinical trial and, on average, detected epileptic episodes seven minutes before they began.

The project, which also involved Girona University, is based on the principle of measuring “the same waves at the start of an epileptic crisis that hospitals look for in electroencephalography.” In tests with 22 people with epilepsy between the ages of 15 and 46, the device monitored brain activity for 1,500 hours and detected a total of 85 epileptic attacks, says the head of the pediatrics service at the Corachán clinic, Adrián Trejo, who led the clinical trials.

The device recognises variations in waves associated with the onset of an epileptic attack some minutes before it happens, and warns the sufferer via their mobile phone, so they can prepare themselves.

The head of MJN Neuroserveis, David Blánquez, says the device is expected to be on the market in January for a price of 1,700 euros, even though trials will continue to collect more data in order to perfect the technology.