Ngee Ann Polytechnic students create tech system to help epileptics
They both have relatives with the disorder
Three years ago, he received a call telling him that his cousin was diagnosed with epilepsy.
"I didn't even know what epilepsy was back then," said 19-year-old Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) student Sunny Deshpande.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes unprovoked, recurrent seizures.
Today, the diploma in engineering science student is one of two who developed an automated diagnosis system to assist clinicians with the accurate diagnosis of epileptic seizures during brain signal screening.
From January to June last year, Mr Deshpande and his partner, Mr S. Suren, 19, also an engineering science student, worked on their system as part of their final-year project.
Mr Suren told The New Paper: "My grandfather has epilepsy too, so Sunny and I had a personal connection to this project and that's why we worked on it."
His grandfather was diagnosed two years ago.
"My family knows about the system I worked on and they are very proud of my work, especially since I am helping others like my grandfather," added Mr Suren.
Through the system, clinicians are able to quickly identify areas of the brain that are affected by seizures so they can administer critical treatment in a timely manner.
The two students explained to TNP that based on their database and samples of 7,500 brain signals, their system has been proven to work, with an up to 83 per cent accuracy rate.
They hope to see their system being used widely in the near future.
Their automated diagnosis system will be showcased to the public at NP's Open House from Jan 10 to Jan 12.
Lecturer-in-charge of the project, Dr Rajendra Acharya, said that he is proud of the students' achievement.
He said: "When the students started the project, they did not know anything about deep learning.
"But with their hard work, they have started from scratch and implemented it."
Another lecturer who helped the students was Dr Chua Khuang Chua, who commended the students' independence throughout the project as they had to do a lot of research and self-learning.
Mr Suren said: "We feel a sense of achievement, having contributed something to science while simultaneously helping others in need.
"It's worth losing all the sleep those six months."
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