In an experiment to get people to feel empathy through experience, Klick Health and Klick Labs created the “SymPulse Tele-Empathy” device.

Patients with Parkinson’s experience tremors as a result of the neurological disease. Most of the already-existing technologies that mimic tremors tend to focus on the mechanics of the symptom and fail to replicate the root cause of the tremor.

Instead of recreating the vibrations, Klick looked at the data and found that muscle contraction and spasms were the actual culprits. The team recorded the muscle activity of a person with Parkinson’s and digitized it to be used in an arm band. The device was then worn by non-patients so that they could experience the tremors first-hand.

Next up, Klick is looking to create a live transmission of data, so that a non-patient can experience the muscle contractions and tremors as they are being experienced by a Parkinson’s patient in real-time.