Gaylord High School athletes to use new concussion technology

GAYLORD, Mich. (WPBN/WGTU) -- Sports teams at Gaylord High School will be using new technology to help detect possible concussions.

The new test asks all the same questions as the SCAT 5 test the teams have used in the past, but using a smart phone or a tablet, it analyzes the person's voice and can tell if it has changed due to a concussion.

“We’re the only ones in Michigan that have this," saidDr. Ted Arkfeld, the team chiropractor for Gaylord High School.

Dr. Arkfeld has been a team doctor for Gaylord High School since 2002.

In that time, there have been big changes in how concussions are detected and treated.

“We always caution on the side that, the kid does have a concussion, we’re not going to put him back in,"Arkfeld said.

The new technology comes from a company called Canary Concussion.

While giving senior football player Cole Bartow a baseline test, Dr. Arkfeld ran through the same questions that are on the SCAT 5 test.

The difference with the new test is that it records Cole's voice and if he takes the test again with a possible concussion, Dr. Arkfeld says it will be able to tell the difference.

“The technology picks up any subtleties in their voice, and let’s say that there’s just a little slurring of the speech, it will pick that up and then it’s no go,"Arkfeld said. "They’re not going back to participation.”

“You’re certainly nervous at first," Cole Bartow said. "It’s going to determine whether you go back and play or not, but once you kind of get in the groove of answering questions and kind of know what you’re doing, then you feel pretty confident.”

Dr. Arkfeld hopes to see other programs pick up the technology as well.

“We got to get the word out about this, because again, it’s our kid’s brains we’re talking about,"Arkfeld said.

Dr.Arkfeld says another advantage of this technology is that if someone is recovering from a concussion, doctors can use the same test to see if the patient is back to normal.

Dr.Arkfeld says he plans to use the Canary Concussion test for all of Gaylord's sports teams this fall.