BEqualise: A Wellness App for People with Dizziness, Vertigo, and Imbalance From a Vestibular Disorder

BEqualise: the holistic wellness app for people with dizziness, vertigo, and imbalance from a vestibular disorder

An App for the Vestibular Community

BEqualise if Free for a Limited Time Only

Living with vestibular disorders can present significant challenges, impacting every aspect of daily life. Aside from the multiple challenges that patients endure from a physical to psychological perspective, finding effective support and resources tailored to the individual can be an additional stressor.

That’s the problem that BEqualise set out to solve. BEqualise is the first wellness app designed to provide holistic support for individuals grappling with dizziness, imbalance, and vertigo. BEqualise is now available for free. This offer is limited in time and to the VeDA community while the app is in testing. They are currently looking for feedback from patients about how the app can be most helpful.

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VeDA’s Executive Director, Cynthia Ryan, recently went live with BEqualise founder Dr. Viviana Mucci to answer questions and share more information about the app.

Improving This New Vestibular App

BEqualise is currently in its “validation” phase, meaning that the app is still being perfected. While in this phase, the VeDA community plays a pivotal role in shaping the app’s future. This crucial phase allows users to experience the app firsthand, providing feedback that will guide further development and refinement.

Because it is still a work in progress, BEqualise is temporarily available to download and use for free. By offering the app for free to the VeDA community during this limited-time validation phase, BEqualise invites users to explore its features, test its functionalities, and share their insights and experiences. This ensures that the app evolves in a manner that aligns closely with the needs and preferences of the vestibular community. During this phase, BEqualise is encouraging users to voice their opinions, highlight areas for improvement, and contribute to the ongoing improvement of the app.

Freemium and Premium versions will be available when the final version is launched. Additional services that are planned for the future include a “Healing Box” that contains materials to collect samples at home to send in for metabolic testing, the results of which will allow BEqualise to suggest a customized recovery plan, including nutrition, supplements, and exercise.

How Does BEqualise Help People With Dizziness, Vertigo, and Imbalance?

BEqualise is a holistic wellness app for people with balance disorders. Their program aims to create a community and guide users day-by-day with personalized training, nutrition, brain exercises, and relaxation tools. Key features include a symptom checker, diary, personalized recovery plan, pill reminder for adherence programs, knowledge base, social support, and referrals to healthcare professionals. BEqualise’s program includes medication reminders, plus daily tips for lifestyle management, hydration, mental health, nutrition, breathing, fitness, and other educational resources.

VeDA and BEqualise Collaboration

To support and improve BEqualise’s ability to empower patients on their journey to wellness, VeDA is working in collaboration to provide educational articles and spread the word about this new app. In turn, BEqualise is sharing its profits with VeDA to help keep our vital service going.

Who Made BEqualise?

BEqualise was founded by a team of healthcare and technology experts, including Dr. Viviana Mucci, who has dedicated her PhD and postdoc to vestibular disorders; Dr. Alessandro Perrella, MD, specialized in telemedicine and med-tech-ai; Dr. Vishal Pawar, Neurologist; Dr. Faisal Al Mubarak, PhD, specialized in vestibular rehabilitation; Dr. Valentina Panfilo, expert in meditation and mindfulness in chronic disorders; Gabi Hacmon, nutritionist, homeopath; and ai expert, Luca Vajani, who also serves as CEO at a tech company; and Roberto Moscatt, Operational Manager with 20 years of IT and sales experience.

VeDA uses otter.ai to create machine-generated transcripts. This transcript may contain errors.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Hello, and welcome to Making Vestibular Visible. I’m Cynthia Ryan, Executive Director of the Vestibular Disorders Association, and I am excited to introduce you to Dr. Viviana Mucci, founder and CEO of BEqualise, which is an app designed to support the wellness of vestibular patients. Dr. Mucci is a postdoctoral researcher and entrepreneur. She has an appointment as an adjunct at the School of Science, Western Sydney University in Australia, and as a medical student at Gulf Medical University. She obtained her PhD in 2018 from Antwerp University, and in 2019, worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, where her research was focused on Mal de Débarquement, on which she has published thirteen peer-reviewed papers. I’m sure many of you here may be familiar with her name from all of the research that she’s done on Mal de Débarquement. In 2018 and 2019, she worked as a postdoc, postdoctoral fellow at the Swiss Concussion Center, the University Hospital Zurich, and as a consultant at the University Hospital in Geneva, where she was assessing patients with MdDS. And in 2020, she was also working as a postdoctoral researcher in Rome, collaborating on an international project that aimed to assess mild TBI patients suffering from dizziness with functional magnetic resonance imaging. She is now completing her medical degree. Welcome, Dr. Mucci.

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Hi, thank you. Thank you so much for having me and for having BEqualise. We are really delighted to join VeDA in this discussion. And yeah, thanks for the introduction.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Oh, of course. And I like I said, I’m sure a lot of people know your name from your work with MdDS. And so that was actually what I wanted to start with, is tell us about how you became involved with the vestibular community.

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yeah, sure. So, my background, actually I studied physiology first. And then I did the master’s in aerospace medicine. And as you know, when you go to space, you have a lot of vestibular changes because there is no gravity. So that’s when I first got involved with the vestibular adaptation to microgravity. And I met a professor that probably many of you know, because he’s really famous,  Professor [unclear] was my professor during my master’s. And so I moved to Belgium, actually to work in cardiology, a completely different field. I was actually involved in a spinoff related to cardiology and cardiac monitoring device. But after I met, again, the same Professor [unclear], but he offered for me to do a PhD with him in vestibular, focusing on adaptation related to spaceflight, and then also taking this branch very clinical to try to understand more about MdDS. And that was in 2015. So I just went for it. And to be honest, it was an incredible journey, because when I — I still remember when we first discussed MdDS and we were like, Okay, what is this? Like, we have no clue and at the time in 2015 there was not much research out there. So it was really new. And we were really fascinated to try to understand if there is anything that could actually bring like a parallel between what we observed we have astronauts during spaceflight and what actually patients are feeling when they disembark from a vehicle, and that’s how it started, my journey into the vestibular world and then it never ended. And now I’m back at school. So I took this crazy decision to go and try to finish my MD as well. And yeah, and it’s really fascinating. So to be honest, I really see how the vestibular field and like how much we still don’t know and how much research is still needed to advance and so yeah, it’s still, I try to do some research in the field but not as active as before but yeah, it’s really fascinating.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

I remember you saying that lots of vestibular patients and MdDS patients specifically have reached out to you because of your work. And that has really gotten you that much more aware of not only the science and the medical part of, you know, vestibular, what’s going on in vestibular medicine, but also the needs of the vestibular community. So, you know, what — was that kind of what inspired you to create the BEqualise app?

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yeah, exactly. During, so already before COVID, but also during COVID and after COVID.  I started to receive so many emails from patients with all sorts of dizziness, not just MdDS. But of course, a lot of MdDS patients because they read my publications or also a lot of concussed patients. So I started to get so many emails. And first of all, I always felt like, okay, I can’t take care of them. I’m not, I haven’t finished my education, so second, how am I gonna take care of them, but like, so I tried to put together a team of specialists, including a neurologist, ENTs, and then I got involved with other practices like physical therapists, chiropractors, as well as nutritionists. And I really saw that when I put together these people, and so we could discuss the cases of the patients together, and I really saw the benefits of — just by email. So at the beginning was like, Okay, you email me, I email you, who you should go to, then you come back to me. And then the journey starts, where I tried to send them to different specialists, of course, it’s not really scalable, you can’t help as many people as you want to, because it’s too many people.

So that was when I started to think, Okay, why don’t we create an automated app version so that we can actually try to reach as many patients as possible? And, yeah, you said something right about, of course, not just the science, but also on a human level. I feel that a lot of vestibular patients they get, let’s say that the current standard of care, and this is something that I believe is across any country, it’s not optimal yet for vestibular, maybe because there are not that many specialists, there are not many people that are trained in the field. And so I really see that the patients are struggling to get the information they need. And one more reason to do an app — so they can get more information, and they can actually get more resources on themselves and how to, how to connect, who to connect with. And this is also in line with what VeDA is doing I believe, right? I mean, one of the things why I’m so really happy that we are a partnership in this today, and talk about the disorders, is because I do see that you’re doing an incredible job just to raise the awareness, which is step number one, right trying to get what they have.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Absolutely. I mean, I do think when I, when I talk about VeDA, I talk about, you know, kind of three pillars on which our, you know, our mission stands: patient education, getting patients connected with health care, qualified vestibular health care specialists. And you’re right, there aren’t that many of them out there, although that’s, you know, another, a whole other topic, and creating a community of support and getting people connected with others who are struggling with the same thing. And I think that I see the same kind of thing on your app. And before I want to, I want to ask about that. But before we move on to that you were mentioning the team that you were building, and it sounds like it’s a multidisciplinary team. I’m guessing that was intentional.

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yes, exactly. Um, as you know, the vestibular and balance system doesn’t come just from one organ, it comes from a multisensory integration. So since the system itself requires a multisensory integration, I believe that we should apply the same, having a multidisciplinary team. So we put together people with very different backgrounds, and also not just coming from the so-called Western medicine. So we started to include also specialists that are looking at just meditation and breathing techniques, as well as homeopaths and different fields or, you know, even osteopathy, like you know, different stuff together. Because the way each one of them look at the pathology is completely different. And I love that I love to have the confrontations because you can learn so much about how, at the end, you can manage the symptoms of a patient. So this is not to dismiss Western medicine. We still go by diagnosis, you know, what we believe it is, but I believe that we needed to have a multidisciplinary team to really try to tackle and to help the patients — 360 degrees approach.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Yeah, I you know, I’m trying to remember who it was I was talking to about this recently. But there’s, you know, there’s the, as you said, the Western medical model, and, and a person, a patient needs to go through that process to get medically managed, you need to see, you know, a medical doctor to get a diagnosis and go through testing, to confirm that diagnosis, and then go through, you know, the traditional treatment that we that we see through physical therapists. But there’s also a lifestyle management and wellness component to, to the vestibular experience. And, and I think that’s probably a lot of where your app comes in. Because you’ve said this. A wellness app is — can you maybe tell us how your app differentiates from other apps in the vestibular space?

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Sure. So first of all, you mentioned lifestyle. And as you know, this is a big topic in medicine, in general, the lifestyle medicine is booming everywhere. And the reason is because again, if you look at the person, of course, you can go, you can address the pathology with a diagnosis, with management, and patients are, we always encourage them to go through a typical current standard of care and to get the proper diagnosis and management. However, there is a lack. And this is happening in any pathology across many fields, also the vestibular. There is a space where the patient is not managed. Because doctors and in general, we you don’t have the time, you just simply don’t have the time to explain what the patient needs to do at home.

So this is where we come along. So I wanted to build an app that is not what’s happening, competition with the, with this third standard of care, but is actually like a helper. So our app is based and centralized on an assistant that, we call it Gabby in the pocket. So when you download BEqualise, you will see that you have this little Gabby that is a virtual assistant, Gabby is actually the name of our, one of our co-founders, she’s our nutritionist and homeopath. And we took this Gabby in the pocket that is like a little cartoon to be like your assistant, You have it in your pocket, and anytime, whenever you need it, you just take it out. And it’s going to guide you. Why?  Because in the life that we do, and all of us, we have a busy lifestyle, we have a million things going on with our life, there are so many things that you need to learn to manage your symptoms, or that you need to address to really change, to really have a different prognosis. And this can only happen if you empower yourself as a patient to say, okay, what can I do with myself to take control of my life? Okay, you can take care of how you eat, you can take care of your thoughts, of how you breathe, of your medications, of your movements, you can have your education, there’s so many things that you can do to feel more empowered and to try to take control of your symptoms. So this is what basically BEqualise aims to do. And yeah, the lifestyle is huge.

And I believe that even if we are able to do so much, and so many wonderful things with Western medicine, we do need to give the sense to the patient to be like you are in charge, it’s your responsibility to take care of yourself, of all the other aspects that there is no pill, no doctor — nobody can actually do it for you. So this is where we stand and we hope to guide them and take them by hands and be like we are, we are with you, we are in your pocket. So you can actually use it.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

I know I use — there are other wellness apps out there, you know, more generalized wellness apps that have become really popular. And I’ve used them before, but I think what’s unique about this is that it’s specifically for vestibular patients, you know, because as everyone says, You don’t you don’t get it till you get it. You know, people other people don’t understand what it’s like to be suffering with, you know, dizziness and brain fog every day. So I love that about it.

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

You just mentioned one thing I didn’t answer before about how are we different from other apps. So definitely, we have a very strong [unclear] on vestibular problems. The other things that we are different from the current apps available in the vestibular field is that we try to look at the person with this holistic approach. So we don’t look at just that one thing and we do not promote just one thing. We do not promote just this physical therapy, we do not just promote one aspect. We actually try to be like, You need to address all of them. And we try to do it in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the patient. But this is the message: you cannot just focus on one aspect of your life and you know, eat rubbish. You’re going to have other problems. You need to take care of all of them. So this is what we’re trying, we’re trying to do.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Now, I know that you had mentioned at one point that you, you want it to be, you know, the dizzy app for women. And, and I know that you have other things in, in the works also.  Can you talk about that focus? And what you mean by that?

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yes, sure. So a lot of people, and perhaps our communication has not been that clear right now. So just to clarify to everybody, we have released what we call a minimum valuable product, meaning we have released a first version, that it’s free for everybody and true, we are focusing on women, why, because we’re also running clinical trials that are focusing on women. So for now, we thought, women, it’s an easy way to address it. We are also very interested, as you know from my research, on the hormonal component to women, but this app is absolutely not just for women, so also men can download it, and they can use it, they can have all the information, they just right now do not have a personalized program.  However, we are about to release another version where they can also access it. And it’s for everybody, for male and female. And the reason why I tried to have this gender distinction, which is not very popular, by the way right now, because I know, that’s not very popular. But the reason why I’m trying to keep it is because I, as a researcher, I’m very interested in what is the hormonal component doing to the vestibular pathophysiology. So we have more to come, and the next version are going to be including everybody, but by all means this is an app for any vestibular patients with peripheral central disorders male or female. It’s just that we, you know, because of the clinical trial, we have a focus on the women right now. And that’s it.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Right.  Well, I think there are a lot of women out there who who would really appreciate that because there is a big hormonal component. And a lot of people really struggle with that. So and there’s — to know that there’s information out there that can address that, I think is is great. Yeah, why don’t we take a look at your presentation. And, and that way, you can kind of lead us through the development of the app, and we can see some screens and what it looks like, and then we can talk about what a typical experience of going through the app is. So I’m gonna, I’m gonna bring up bring up our presentation here. And —

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yeah, so because yeah, first of all, just to clarify, indeed, what we do we have a personalized program. So as mentioned before, we just released a validation version, which means we are trying to get as many feedback as many informations as possible from patients. So if you are a patient that want to try, male or female, just download it.  If you want to change anything, email us, we’ll reply, we’re very prompt about getting your feedbacks. And the reason is, because we want to build the final product with the inputs from patients. We are building this for you guys, for the patients, not for us, we definitely going to benefit from it. But we want to get as many feedback as possible from you. So at the moment, yeah, the reason as mentioned before, the reason why we did it, as, as we just briefly discussed is because patients are not that well managed. And unfortunately, there is not this holistic approach.  It’s really hard to find the clinic that in the same working space, you can share the data of a patient with a nutritionist, with somebody that is just a physical therapist or neurotologist.  There is going to be always somebody missing in the picture. And this is where the power of data comes in. Because by collecting data from the patients we have, our AI has been able to integrate the minds of many multiple specialists into one.

If you want to go to the next one, maybe yeah. So this is just again, we know that patients are impaired by many, in different aspects. I mean, this is a big drive for us. We’re trying right now, as mentioned, is everything for free, you’re going to see a different version coming in few months, where we’re going to ask for a subscription, but we still trying to keep it very cheap. Because our aim is really that this is going to be for everybody. We want to aim not to, we want to aim to be accessible, to have a very accessible way for everybody, to empower them to change their life.

And then if you move to the next one, this is just we are so yeah, just briefly mentioning about our vision and mission. Everything inside app, we are trying to use scientific and proven methods. So we don’t go about things that haven’t been proved. This is why we’re also running a clinical trial. We have an holistic approach. We have this vision but we always go by science and we are promoting a recovery plan that is holistic, but has been proven. And honestly now, with the clinical trial, we will have even more insights. And this is what we’re trying to, the patients to commit to, we wanted them to commit to a daily program for a minimum of 60 days up to nine months, where day by day, they are taken by hands on what they can do to improve their lifestyle. Yeah, I don’t know, the next slides. Yeah, this is again about the problem, that sometimes people are not really well aware how big this is. And this is huge. There’s so many dizzy patients worldwide. So this is another big drive for us.

Okay, this is interesting, because you mentioned before about the fact that we have a multidisciplinary team, we don’t just have a multidisciplinary team, we have an international team, we are all over. So actually, so I’m based in Dubai. And in the UAE, we have team members from the, from India, in the UAE, we have team member in Saudi, Amsterdam, Italy, US, Canada, and also Australia. So we’re really everywhere. We missed a few continents here and there, but we’re getting there. And this is what is important, to show the patients, maybe just to conclude, and these slides, and they are a section of the app is not just for the patient, we also have a section for the doctors. So where in the future, we are building now a decision support system to improve the doctor anamnesis. So when they collect data from the patients, and this is a different line of business that we hope to integrate in the future. But again, it’s because we try to help both sides. Yeah, and this is just about really the power of AI. So the reason why we see that the next version is going to be much more comprehensive also for the patients is because we are training the model right now to have the understanding of also the person that is in front of us. And we have many more things coming along that we will release, like the virtual assistant, is the integration of data from a smartwatch, so that we can learn from the patients many, many features. And then we have our own sections that the patient has to engage. But we also going to try to extrapolate data possibly from them. So that we really can be like a total support system. Yeah, I don’t know if you want I go on talking, I have so many things to say.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

What I want to go to is, I wanted to get to this slide, because it kind of starts to show what the app looks like and what a journey is. So can you take us through what a journey on the app is when, when you –Okay, so you download the app, you register.  What process there’s, there’s, there’s kind of a a process of giving some information about yourself so that you can customize the app, right?

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yes, sure. So right now, the way we decided to go about just for the validation is that we actually ask every patient to select a diagnosis. So we received many inquiries from patients asking us what about if I have more than one diagnosis, well just go with the first diagnosis you wish to address. So for example, if you have many other disease, and you also have vestibular migraine, which is very common, you have both of them, just select the primary diagnosis today, that gives you the complaints today that you, you wish to address. And once you’ve addressed those, you can always rejoin and go with the other diagnosis. This is right now how it is for the validation. But in the second version we are releasing, we’re actually not going by diagnosis, we’re going by symptoms. So it’s going to be totally different. We’re getting there just again, bear with us, we’re getting there. So the reason why we go by diagnosis is that then the patients fall into a cluster of categories.

And what happened is that day by day, they get access to our pillars, we have four pillars, the first one is movement. So we give them everyday tips and guidelines, how to move, and exercises videos. The second one is about food. So we encourage them, or we give them small tips on what they need to eat and what they shouldn’t eat. And the third one is about breathing and mindfulness. So they have videos that they can follow every day to learn about mindfulness. And basically there are different techniques that we apply throughout the journey to teach them how to become more aware of the self, of themselves. And then the last one is education. So these four pillars are the recovery plan that the patient is guided through. So once you download the app you have basically, you are guided in that and then there are a few more things that the patients can do. Number one is to measure the triggers, so that we ask them daily to report the triggers if they’re interested to monitor a specific trigger of symptoms. And then we also have a peer reminder and a diary or a journal where they can write down whatever they feel that it’s important to note on that day.  The peer reminder and other few things are more for the treatment than they might currently do, and I believe this is also something important for them, especially for some people, including me, to have a peer reminder sometimes, so I think it will be something that can really just help them in general to manage the whole journey. And also with the triggers to get more an idea of where they stand.

The next version is going to be much more, let’s say reach of things and tools, is going to be more engagement, because I can actually talk to the avatar and be like, Today I have a brain fog that is 10, what shall I do? So is it going to be a more engaging type of platform, but we’re getting there. So for now is just like passive absorption of information, and the next one is going to be more engaging.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Okay, great. Let’s see. So it’s kind of these screens show that you got, you know, a different, for each day, you have different tips. And so you for each day, you go through, okay, I want to get my tip on exercise, I want to get my tip on nutrition, I want to get my, my mindfulness tips. So it’s like, just feeding you little things that you can do each day so that you’re not overwhelmed with, oh, I have all this stuff I have to do to manage my lifestyle.  It’s like, okay, one thing at a time, one day at a time.

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Exactly when one step at a time, exactly that and the other things that we do, because we really believe again, in the power of the data to show the patient is actually improving. At the end of the day, if you complete your day program, you get asked to rate how your day was, which seems a very easy thing to do. But if you see how you rate yourself every day, throughout a period of time, you will see how this is changing. And we are adding much more, we are adding also emotions, we’re going to have a scale about the emotional impact that dizziness has on patients, and we have a whole new section also on meditation with, through emotion, because this is also something very big about the perception of your symptom that sometimes is driven by how you’re actually feeling. So there is more to come. But for now, complete the tips and go into your scale, zero to 10 how you’re feeling, and then you can actually see the trend and improvement you do weekly.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Awesome. So if anybody’s got their phone out, and they want to, they want to scan this QR code, and I think that Elizabeth is putting the link in the chat as well. So here, I think we can remove that. So. So question, I know that you’ve, so the app is in the beta testing mode, and you’re adding lots of things to the app itself. And I remember you talking about even more that you’re going to be doing with your, I’m trying to remember the name of it, but it’s the box.

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yes, the healing box. What the next space is going to be, we call it the healing box. And because it’s a typical, it’s a digital [unclear] business, we say, so what is it, healing boxes? Like we said, we send the home of the patients a box where they can actually start to measure and quantify also their hormones through saliva sampling. We haven’t figured it out yet for the logistics in the US if we will be able to do also urine sampling, from a dipstick. We are evaluating that. But the idea is that they can also monitor themselves from an hormonal perspective. And then the other big interest that we have is in metabolic disorders, because this is a pity, but pretty much everybody has a metabolic condition. So which means we’re also interested in looking at your glucose and your metabolism. So there is more to come. Yeah, we need some time, we are getting there. We’re just, we are always in a rush in a startup, but we’re getting there.

But the idea is that we’re really trying to bring some tangible tools in the day or in the life of patients on a daily basis. And yeah, so again, the reminder is you can download the app from Apple Store, Google store, you can find the links on our social media page anywhere and give us feedback because we really want to make the app for the patients. This is our biggest drive. Our biggest mission is to do something that they actually want to use it to how they like it. So we are trying to absorb as many feedback as we can from them so that they, they say, I don’t like this, I find it is difficult, or even on a visual perspective, you know, because a lot of the patient, they get overwhelmed by digital input. So we try to design an app that is very simple. But we want the feedback.  What would you like to see? Is this too much? Because I don’t have visually induced sickness. I don’t get triggered. How does that make you feel? So we want to learn from them as much as possible.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

I’m sure everybody appreciates that. And Rachel, yes, you can get it, you can get the app both for iPhone and Android devices. So which is great, it’s available for everybody. And, and I just, you know, get back getting back to the, you know, taking, having something that you can do every day, just a little bit every day without having to, you know, on your own, as you said, empowering patients to take back their, take back their wellness.

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yeah, sure. And you know, sometimes even just having somebody encouraging to be like, you know, what, go for a walk, it seems so simple, but even just having that when people are becoming, especially with vestibular disorders, where you just don’t want to ever walk, right, you’re scared or doing or moving, just having somebody to remind you, okay, you can do this, you can do that it makes a difference. So yeah, hopefully, we’re gonna get more, more and more patients involved.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

So some of the tips are just like a little Hey, do this. And some of them are videos, is that right?

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yeah. So at the moment, most of the, some of the tips are written and we don’t have yet — the avatar, they can also speak to them, is coming. But other are videos so for example, the fitness of course, there is a video, so they have to follow the video. The next feature, the interesting thing is that they can follow the video and activate their camera. And we have an AI also module that kind of detect the movements of the patient. So if, let’s say, I asked you to just move your head like this, I can, through the camera, see if you’re moving it right. And if you’re not, I can actually tell you, ah you’re not moving your head, right, like really having a coach and a personal assistant next to you. So this is also what’s coming. And yeah, it’s, it’s really, it’s really helping, I believe, because it can, again, create this engagement with the patients. So yeah, there is a mix, a mix between the informations and videos right now.

For the meditation is the same, there is an audio, there is a video.  Most are audios that, to have guided meditations. And yeah, we take the patients through the journey, but it really doesn’t take that much. But you know, micro changes every day, these when you sum them up at the end of the month, they’re massive. This is what I’m always saying, you know, in when I was younger, I was an athlete. And then I became, before my, during my study, I was a personal trainer, and I have gyms, and this is where it comes, my training mentality. And I really see that even in fitness, we always apply this to any clients, any patients is that you need to start small steps and not overwhelm yourself, not be like, Okay, from tomorrow, I’m gonna — because this is not long lasting. So the only way to address really a change is to try to change a small habit every day, something small, and then they’re able to really, transform themselves.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Absolutely. We’ve had some questions about about creating an account and and personal information. I believe you do have to create an account, is that correct?

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yes, you do have to create an account and all your data are protected. They’re currently protected. But in a server that all apps use, which is called AUS.  We follow the privacy policies of every country where the app is released. So we are currently trying to understand if we’re gonna  file for the Middle East, because we are, our main target is the US. So we filed for the privacy policy in the US. And we have the GDPR in Europe. And so yeah, now we have to follow all these rules, otherwise, Google will not or neither Apple to have the data to open their stores. So yes, everything is protected. And we do not share patient data with nobody, of course.  These are only seen by the team of BEqualise, and that’s it.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

And you mentioned that you’re doing a clinical trial. Is that right? Is, will that be using data from the app?

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yeah, we use the data that we give to the patients that we see in the clinic. So we use only the data, the medical data that we acquired from the patients in the clinic, so the clinical trial, in order to make it a clinical trial, we actually see patients in real life. We have in our clinic here in Dubai with our neurologist, we consult them, we give them a diagnosis. After the diagnosis, they go through the process of having a standard treatment of care, versus the standard treatment of care and the use of the app. So we do a test retest. And our aim is to prove that when they put the app in their hands, they start using it on top of their current treatment, they get better.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Got it. Oh, that will be exciting.

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yeah, well, hopefully.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

So let me just, you know, ask you one other question. And, and that is, if you, if you wanted to say one thing to someone who is listening here, a vestibular patient about, you know what, I know that you’re really passionate about this project. What would you tell them? Why should they use this app? Why do you think that this app is going to make a difference in their life?

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

If I have to say one thing is because we should stop thinking of the body as compartmentalized sections, I don’t know if this is the English word, but meaning that we just look at the ears or the brain or the eyes. And the one message I want to see is that we are much more complex than we know. And the holistic approach is needed. So BEqualise is probably the only app right now offering you a 360 degrees approach, where we look into your different aspects. So the message, I would like to say is take care of other aspects of your life, the emotional one, the breathing, the meditation and mindfulness, the nutritional one. And, of course, the one about physicality and [unclear] and movement. So there is everything. Focusing on only one will not be able to solve the problems, I believe. So this is my message. Look at all the aspects of your life, not just one, which is against the idea of being focused. Now, don’t be focused, in this case, don’t — the only case when people should not be focused.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

I think it’s a great message and one that we all need to hear. So I want to just make sure everybody knows where to get more information, go to BEqualise.com. and download the app there. Thank you so much for sharing with us today. It was great to see you again. And I hope that everybody will check out the app, share it with your friends, share it on all the social media channels that you’re participating in and let them know let Vivi know what you think and what you’d like to see in the app because they’re very receptive to your feedback.

Dr. Viviana Mucci 

Yes. Thank you so much indeed. Thank you VeDA for the support, and we hope that this is going to help a lot of people.  Thank you so much.

Cynthia Ryan – VeDA 

Thank you.