Project Description

Project neglect is a training tool for physical and occupational therapists to train users with one-side neglect. Neglect is a condition prevalent with victims of stroke. It can affect visual, sensory, or perceptual aspects of a person’s life. In general, one-side neglect is associated with a lack of awareness to one-side of the person’s body. Neglect can appear differently for each stroke survivor. For example, one person might leave half the food on their plate, only read the right side of a book, or only pay attention to cars coming from one side of a busy street. 

This software program provides users with real-life scenarios presented in a game-like environment. There are two scenarios under development: purchasing items from a vending machine and crossing a busy street. For the vending machine, the user is given a specific item and they must correctly purchase the item by pressing the corresponding buttons on the in-game keypad. Users are then given feedback on how long it took them to make the selection, if they were correct, and if wrong where in their field of vision they are having the most issues.

This project intends to provide therapists with situations like what people would encounter in everyday life, with the goal to improve awareness of the affected side of the patient. This program is designed to be used with virtual reality headsets, eye trackers, and touchscreen monitors. In the future, the team may develop a mobile phone / tablet version of the software for at home use. 

At the bottom of this page there will be a download link for this app. Keep in mind that this app is only a prototype and may contain bugs.

To run the app on Windows:

  1. Download the .zip file from Google Drive by clicking on the link below.

  2. Once downloaded, extract files from “PN_FinalPrototype.zip”. This should give you a folder called “PN”.

  3. Click into folder “PN”.

  4. Right click on “ProjectNeglect.exe” and select “Run as administrator”. (You should only need to do this once)

  5. A white box titled “ProjectNeglect Configuration” should appear. Here you can adjust the graphic interface settings. Medium and Low graphics quality is recommended for less powerful computers. The resolution should be automatically set to your monitor’s resolution.

  6. Click “Play!” and the app should start.

Minimum System Requirements:

  • Operating System: Windows® 7, Windows® 10

  • RAM: 2GB

  • Video Card: Card with DirectX 10 support

  • Hard Disk Space: 1gb

Google Drive link to download the software:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U0u6PTtogUykxKKEFhfpa3ef21PnJ7kZ/view?usp=sharing

Development Team

  • Cody Hoggard - Student

  • Kevin Caves

  • Laura Juel, OTR/L, CDRS, ATP – Duke Department of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy

    • Leighanne Davis