TS-001036 — School can be a daunting experience. Constant motion, public speaking and a new environment can increase anxiety in children, sometimes leading to school avoidance. A team at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has developed a solution, where exposure therapy procedures are combined with modern technology can improve the school experience for people of all ages. Using a Virtual Reality (VR) Simulation, clinicians are able to use the multi-user capability to interact with and guide their patient through new environments such as classrooms, hallways and lunchrooms, as well as scenarios known to trigger increased anxiety such as public speaking or asking for help. Biofeedback components help collect data so that the clinician can adapt the experience to the user. Although targeted for school-aged children, this technology can be modified to treat any person with school or public phobia.

TS-000278 — Background / Context / Abstract: Nearly 34 million children globally have disabling hearing loss, facing challenges in developing spoken language and literacy. Expert therapy is needed to achieve success, and no digital therapy interventions designed for deaf/hard of hearing (D/HH) children are available. Technology Overview: We have created a novel mobile app “Hear Me Read” designed to use digital storybooks as audio and video tools in therapy, in a platform that enhances family engagement for D/HH children. Therapists can select stories based on reading level, auditory and grammatical features, then assign them to parents with embedded individualized prompts and therapeutic goals. Parents can create personalized narrations of a book, explore vocabulary and the embedded therapist prompts and tasks. Our unique team is made up of pediatric hearing loss professionals (speech and language therapists, ENT surgeon), a parent of a D/HH child, and a software designer, all of whom incorporated design elements tailored to the specific learning needs of these children. Learn how “Hear Me Read” was developed to help at-risk children use storybooks in a single app to achieve multiple therapy goals over time! Benefits: The Hear Me Read platform is a modern and adaptable reading intervention tailored to the needs of D/HH children. We expect that HMR can improve spoken language and literacy outcomes in young children who are D/HH and greatly increase access to evidence-based and expert-driven therapy in those who could not otherwise attain it. We also expect to use HMR as a research tool to gain insights in literacy, accelerate and lead development of novel future reading interventions, thereby transforming therapy for D/HH (and other at risk) children. Further Details / State of Development: We have a currently functional iOS based app on an iPad platform. We have executed surveys and focus groups in speech-language pathologists and parents of D/HH children to confirm value of the product, and provide feedback on the technology (which we have incorporated). We are currently investigating the efficacy of Hear Me Read in a prospective clinical trial, which provides a unique evidence-based foundation for this technology. We are ready to move from a Minimal Viable Product to an active development phase to upgrade our software strategy, cloud-based access, and delivery model. Potential Applications / Potential Markets: We anticipate this technology to apply more broadly to children beyond D/HH, but to include other at-risk children. This may include children with: Autism Spectrum Disorder Dyslexia Specific Reading Disorder Other Reading Disorders End users may include parents of these children, as well as speech-language therapists. Teachers and schools may be secondary markets. Opportunity / Seeking: ☒Development partner ☒Commercial partner ☒Licensing ☒University spin out ☒Seeking investment We are exploring all options at this time. IP Status: ☐Patented ☒Patent application submitted ☒Provisional patent ☐No patent ☐Know-how based ☒Copyright