Palm Handheld Summits Everest As Part of Research Study

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay's historic climb to the summit of the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest. And this year Palm handhelds made history too, making the summit as part of a research study conducted by Brown and Harvard Universities.

The three-year study, led by Brown University professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences Philip Lieberman and his team of researchers, analyzed the effects of extremely high altitude and lack of oxygen -- a condition called hypoxia -- on the thinking abilities of climbers. At Everest, voice samples of climbers were recorded on Palm Tungsten T handhelds and transmitted using VHF radios to Lieberman's research team at Everest Base Camp. Climbers also took a comprehensive series of cognitive tests -- developed by Harvard University professor of psychology Stephen Kosslyn and his research group -- that assessed their decision-making abilities under extreme situations.

"This is the first year we have used the Palm Tungsten T handhelds, and because of them, we were able to greatly expand our research by capturing more data," said Lieberman. "In past years, we relied solely on speech samples from VHF radios. We needed an unobtrusive, lightweight tool that the climbers could use to record voice memos and run the cognitive testing software. Palm's Tungsten T handheld was the perfect tool for both."

Sponsored by NASA, the research detects impaired decision-making ability using computers to analyze speech. NASA is interested in using the study's techniques to remotely monitor crew members' performance in deep-space missions where exposure to cosmic rays could cause brain dysfunction similar to that resulting from hypoxia. The Everest research points to voice-monitoring techniques that could be used to alert people to life-threatening breakdowns in decision-making in other critical situations as well. The present technique developed by Lieberman and his colleagues already has proven useful in evaluating new methods for the treatment of certain brain disorders, including Parkinson's Disease.