Xybernaut Wearable Computers Assist Individuals with Parkinson's Disease; PARREHA Program Achieves Remarkable Gains in Walking, Situational Awareness and Coordination

Business Wire, Feb 27, 2003

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2003

Xybernaut Corporation (NASDAQ:XYBR), a leader in the wearable computer industry, today announced that its wearable computing solutions are helping Parkinson's Disease sufferers gain significant improvements in coordination, mobility (particularly walking), awareness and lifestyle.

These results were achieved during multinational programs conducted by teams of experts from academia, clinical medicine, government and commercial organizations to determine how mobile computing technologies could benefit Parkinson's sufferers.

Participant-organizations include Xybernaut and members of the PARREHA Consortium (http:/www.parreha.com) -- an organization founded by Parkinson's researchers from France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. The PARREHA Project is led by Oxford Computer Consultants Ltd. (UK) with participation by 7 companies and organizations such as Europark -- a PARREHA Project group based in Germany.

The structured program has been evolving over the past three years. The initial phase was to determine which advanced computing technologies could offer benefits to Parkinson's disease patients. Evaluations concentrated on improvements in coordination and lifestyle quality. Subsequent phases are concentrating on the joint program's main goal -- helping sufferers by identifying and prioritizing best practices in applying mobile technologies in the fight against Parkinson's. Significant results have been attained in assisting Parkinson's patients with coordination and mobility -- particularly standing, sitting and walking.

Initially, the program utilized laptop computers. The program coordinators quickly realized laptops were too cumbersome and actually impeded the mobility of the PD users. Searching for better alternative computing platforms, the PARREHA teams discovered Xybernaut, purchased five of the Company's Mobile Assistant wearable computers and decided to conduct its subsequent clinical evaluations using Xybernaut wearable computers.

"The fact that Xybernaut technologies are actually designed to be worn by the user, made them a much more flexible computing solutions," stated Dr. Reynold Greenlaw, Oxford Computer Consultants Ltd. "Combine this increased usability with the MA's full PC computing capabilities and we realized that Xybernaut wearable computers offered a much more sophisticated, more flexible and more powerful foundation from which to continue our ongoing efforts to assist these patients."

Studies by the Miami-based National Parkinson Foundation report that more than 1.5 million Americans suffer from the disease, which includes 10 percent of all Americans over 60(1). Separately, PARREHA Project research shows that nearly 200,000 Germans have Parkinson's disease. The Consortium believes that a large percentage of this population can benefit from the use of wearable computing solutions.

Clinical research shows that certain types of visual information (also referred to as visual cues), when combined with human sensory data, greatly enhanced patients' coordination while walking. Acting on this previous data, PERREHA created software programs designed to overlay electronic visual cues with human sensory data.

These applications, when combined with Xybernaut wearable computers and presented to patients using Xybernaut head mounted display (HMD) technologies, greatly enhanced patients' awareness, motor skills and coordination -- specifically related to walking. To-date, this integrated wearable computing solution has been utilized for approximately one year with compelling results. PERREHA has now begun presenting its results to medical and scientific communities.

"The ability to blend actual sensory information with meaningful computer data is critical to helping Parkinson's patients. This benefit is enhanced further if the integrated information can be presented to the user while he or she is out-and-about during their daily routine," stated Dr. Edwin Vogt chief research and development officer for Xybernaut and director of the Company's University Programs. "Enhanced situational awareness, whether it be in medical applications such as the PERREHA program or the many military programs in which we are involved, is clearly a critical capability," added Vogt.

"Xybernaut unique wearable computing products offer true mobility and are manufactured to operate with the majority of industry-standard applications," added Dietmar Wessel, PARREHA representative for Europark. "Our belief is that this type of computing solution will greatly enhance the quality of life for Parkinson's patients."

Xybernaut University Programs have grown quickly in recent years as wearable technologies continue to become more integral components of enterprise computing. At this time, more than 46 separate universities are conducting more than 100 programs in North America, Europe and SE Asia/Pacific Rim.

Xybernaut University Programs are designed to allow participants to be on the cutting edge of practical technology while providing Xybernaut revenue opportunities in both the near and long-term. Academic institutions and/or tenured individuals interested in the Xybernaut university program should contact Xybernaut at info@xybernaut.com.