Biometric app for dementia patient management set to launch

A biometric application vital for the management of persons suffering from dementia is set to be launched in the course of this month. The application, which has six important features, has been developed by some Irish teenagers of Nigerian descent, the Irish Central news site reports.

The trio, 17-year-old Joy Njekwe, 15-year-old Rachael Akano, and Margaret Akano, who is 17 years old, developed the application called Memory Haven which can be used by dementia patients and those providing them care.

According to the report, the six features of the app include a photo wallet, memory games, health alerts, biometric face and voice recognition, a music playlist, and a feature which gives patients a convenient way to communicate with emergency contacts and doctors.

The app, which is set to go on the App Store later this month.

The Irish Central news site further reports that the music playlist option of the award-winning app has the ability to read a patient’s mood and then play songs that appear to suit such a mood. This, the report adds, is possible thanks to a facial recognition system in-built in the app. The photo wallet feature allows users to slide through tagged photos that identify those in the image.

Memory Haven is an app that was built within a period of 12 weeks by the three young women for an international competition for young women dubbed Technovation Girls. Among over 1,000 entries from 62 countries, the app was voted the best in the competition. They were handed the prize in August during the Technovation World Summit. The inventors are said to have been inspired by the case of their mentor’s mother who died of dementia-related issues this year after suffering from the disease for the past four years.

“Our main aim is just to help as many people as possible…We hope that our app can go global one day and reach millions of people who are affected by dementia and just make their lives somewhat easier,” Rachael Akano is quoted as telling the BBC in an interview.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  healthcare  |  mobile app  |  research and development  |  voice recognition