Clear Health Media Launches New iOS Clinical Assessment Apps

Clear Health Media, an Australian software developer, has released four new iOS applications designed to digitize clinical assessment methods, alongside a major update to its established Visual Vertical app. The new applications, Luria Sequencing, Line Bisection, Stroop Test, and Contrast Sensitivity, aim to make traditional clinical tests easier to administer and score using an iPhone or iPad.

Luria Sequencing assists with the administration and scoring of the Luria three-step motor sequence, recording the assessment on an iPhone or iPad. Clinicians can review the recording later, including in slow motion, to score successful sequences and identify errors, hesitations, and freezes.

Line Bisection provides a digital implementation of the traditional line bisection task, used to assess visuospatial attention. Participants mark the perceived midpoint of a line on the device, with the app calculating and reporting the deviation from the true midpoint.

Stroop Test, which measures response accuracy and reaction time across neutral, congruent, and incongruent conditions, comes in both verbal and touchscreen versions. On-device speech recognition assists with response classification and timing, allowing clinicians to review recorded responses and override classifications where necessary.

Contrast Sensitivity, a standardised edge-detection assessment for iPad, uses a forced-choice testing procedure to determine a contrast sensitivity score. The app presents published age-related reference information to provide context for the result.

In addition to these new applications, Clear Health Media has released a substantially revised version of its Visual Vertical app. Originally released almost two decades ago, the new Visual Vertical has been rebuilt for current versions of iOS and iPadOS, with an updated interface and workflow while retaining its core method of measuring perceived vertical using the device's motion sensors. The company notes that Visual Vertical has been evaluated in peer-reviewed research, including a validation study comparing the mobile application with the traditional bucket test.

Clear Health Media's approach to developing these new applications is centered on using the sensors, touchscreen, camera, microphone, and processing capabilities already available in Apple devices to digitize established assessment methods without requiring additional specialized hardware. According to Matthew Holmes, the company's founder and CEO, "Our aim is to simplify the administration and scoring of these tests, making them more accessible to healthcare professionals while maintaining the accuracy of the traditional methods."

The new applications are part of Clear Health Media's ongoing development of its Neuro Tools range of focused digital assessment applications. The company has been developing software for clinical practice since 2009 and operates under the name CHM Solutions Pty Ltd. Further information about the applications can be found on the Clear Health Media website.