Shorter Test Sets the Stage for Widespread Adoption by Business and Industry
The Druid® app developed by Impairment Science, Inc. (ISI) assesses a person’s level of cognitive and motor impairment due to any cause or combination of causes. Informed by scientific research, the app requires users to perform balance and game-like tasks that measure reaction time, decision-making accuracy, hand-eye coordination, time estimation, and the ability to perform divided-attention tasks.
The app has been cited by leading impairment researchers as “the most sensitive measure of impairment” available and is being used by researchers both in the US and abroad.
ISI’s business challenge was to develop a version of Druid that could be completed in about 1 minute without compromising the app’s precision and reliability.
Dr. Michael Milburn, Chief Science Officer, and Dr. Max Daniller-Varghese, Director of Data Science, analyzed the hundreds of measurements recorded during each Druid test taken by thousands of users to refine the app’s tasks and apply a new scoring algorithm.
Mission accomplished
According to ISI’s extensive research, the new “Rapid Druid’ test takes just over a minute and is 95% as accurate as the 3-minute “Benchmark Druid” test. New proprietary code was written to reflect the changes, and the new version of the app was released this week on the Apple Store. The Google Play version will be released in several weeks.
“Thanks to having data from so many Druid users, we could readily determine how to alter the tasks,” reported Dr. Milburn. “While shortening the app has tradeoffs, we are confident that the Rapid Test has strong fidelity to the original 3-minute test.” Dr. Daniller-Varghese added, “Druid’s rich database will provides fertile ground for applying neuroscience to a broad range of market applications.
For commercial clients with workers in safety-sensitive jobs, the Rapid Test will facilitate more frequent testing at no added cost. Unlike traditional drug and alcohol testing which is priced on a per-test basis, pricing for the Druid app is based on the number of users and allows unlimited testing. “Reducing the time of the test is going to be transformative and sets the stage for broad adoption in any number of industries,” said Chris Bensley, Chief Operating Officer. “We look forward to making Druid more accessible and affordable to companies in safety sensitive industries.”
VIDEO | How to use the Rapid Druid Test App
