Development of a Clinical Outcome Assessment for Assistive Technologies and Brain-Computer-Interfaces

Status: Recruiting
Location: See location...
Intervention Type: Device
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

Many individuals with severe motor impairments rely on Assistive Technologies (ATs) or Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) to interact with digital devices such as their computers. Clinicians and researchers currently lack a common framework to objectively quantify how much a given AT or BCI improves real-world function or to compare across tools. This project seeks to address this gap by developing a standardized method to objectively assess or compare the functional benefit of these tools on digital independence, i.e., the ability to independently operate computers, phones, and other digital systems, by creating a unique Digital Assessment Interface (DAI). This assessment will be a simulation of online and digital activities that prior work has determined is important to functional daily living in the digital domain. Participants will complete this assessment with various ATs and BCIs, and these scores will be used to create an index, which will be comprised of performance outcomes, clinician-reported outcomes, and patient-reported outcomes. The tool aims to quantify and compare digital task performance across devices and user populations. The primary objective of this study is to develop an index. The index will quantify functional performance of individuals using various ATs and BCIs. The secondary objectives are to extensively evaluate the psychometric properties of the index, such as the validity, responsiveness, reliability, and floor/ceiling effects both globally and across different devices and impairment levels, ensuring that it can reliably measure the impact of an AT or BCI on a user's ability to independently operate digital systems; and to characterize the familiarization and use of specific BCI and AT systems with reference to a normative healthy control population.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Healthy Volunteers: t
View:

• Age at or above 18 years old;

• Diagnosis of spinal cord injury, at the level of T1 or above levels (between C1 and T1);

• Ability to communicate independently or with a support device, or with a legal representative;

• Ability to participate in a study session for about 3 hours (e.g., endurance, fatigue), which may include breaks as needed.

• Age at or above 18 years old;

• Diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis;

• Ability to communicate independently, with a support device, or with a legal representative;

• Ability to participate in a study session for about 3 hours (e.g., endurance, fatigue), which may include breaks as needed.

• Age at or above 18 years old;

• No history of neurological or psychiatric disorders;

• Ability to provide written informed consent;

• Ability to participate in a study session for about 3 hours (e.g., endurance, fatigue), which may include breaks as needed.

Locations
United States
Illinois
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
RECRUITING
Chicago
Contact Information
Primary
Arun Jayaraman, PT, PhD
ajayaraman@sralab.org
312-238-6875
Backup
Richa Rai, PhD
rrai@sralab.org
312-238-6538
Time Frame
Start Date: 2026-01-08
Estimated Completion Date: 2027-06
Participants
Target number of participants: 60
Treatments
Experimental: AT/BCI User
Participants in this arm will undergo training and a digital assessment using 3 assistive technologies (eye tracker, mouth-operated joystick, non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) headset), brain-computer-interfaces, and applicable personal ATs. Participants will experience each of these devices in a randomized order. Participants in this arm will include individuals with a diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinal cord injury (SCI), or healthy individuals.
Sponsors
Leads: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
Collaborators: Neuralink Corp

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov