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Help For Those With Shaky Hands

Posted by Zonk on from the a-worthy-peripheral dept.

maotx writes "IBM has developed an adjustible mouse adapter that compensates for the shakes of patients with hand tumors and other causes of uncontrollable shaking. According to the International Essential Tremor Foundation, in the US alone nearly 10 million people are affected by essential tremor, the most common form of hand tremors. This adapter will plug in between the mouse and computer and is compatible with existing mice. No word on which port is supported (ps/2, usb, etc). More info here, here, and here. It is expected that IBM will sell the adapter for under $100 USD."

5 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. Growth market by BWJones · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is about time that somebody entered this market. I suppose that because age is a risk factor for essential tremor, the need for such a device is only going to increase given the age group that has now become completely dependent upon computers. Most folks I have known with essential tremor (and patients of mine when I was in the clinical side of things) were old enough that they did not routinely use computers. For those that did, keyboarding did not prove as much a problem as using the mouse which requires fine motor skills that often enhance the tremors. Trackballs helped these folks a bit more, but I really would like to see how these compensatory mice work for these patients.

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    1. Re:Growth market by TheFlyingGoat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My wife is an occupational therapist, and I know with at least one patient they came up with an even simpler solution: they turned the mouse sensitivity WAY down. Since tremors would move the cursor a much shorter distance, the patient was able to use the mouse once again. Obviously that does nothing for stray mouse clicks. It also required the patient have good range of motion, which a geriatric user might not have. The benefit was that is was free and universally available.

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  2. In Software by Digital_Quartz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You'd think you'd be able to smooth out mouse input in software. I admit, the platform independant aspect is nice, but still...

    I wonder what kind of filtering they do for "inadvertant clicks"? Clicks associated with mouse movement? Triple clicks?

  3. Why not use a driver? by OrangeTide · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's just a hardware adapter, it can't see anything more than your mouse driver can see. Why can't we just write something like this for Windows or Linux? Seems like these companies want to sell $100 hardware device rather than let people download a $10 software package.

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    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  4. hardware is needed by r00t · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How are you supposed to control the software or
    even install the software? Right, you use the mouse.
    Oh, wait...

    This device comes with a big fat knob and 3 tall
    switches. The worst trouble will be getting the
    plug connected.