Being away from a newborn for any amount of time can be traumatic for a new mum, but scientists are about to launch a new study into whether Google Glass could be useful in maintaining that precious connection in cases where mother and child are temporarily separated while receiving medical attention.
Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston is seeking the participation of 250 volunteer mums in an effort to ascertain if there are benefits to having Google’s famous hands-free smart eyewear worn by their partners when they visit intensive care or other units.
The volunteers will be split into three different study groups; one which will use Google Glass to transmit images via a live feed back to a tablet computer in the mother’s hands, a second which will video-chat using iPads and a third group which will use no technology.
“I want to take this super-high-tech device and capture what could be thought of as one of the strongest and basic human connections there is,” said hospital nurse Stephanie Shine, speaking to The Boston Globe.
