N.H. Firm High-tech Helmet Tracks Sports, Military Brain Injuries

A high-tech helmet invented by a New Hampshire company is helping football teams and the military learn more about head injuries.

The helmet and sensors created by research-and-development company Simbex LLC in Lebanon, N.H., measures and records the force of impacts to the head. The system already is being used by many football teams looking to detect and prevent injuries. The military also has ordered some of the systems.

The Head Impact Telemetry System, or HIT system, includes a helmet and data transmitter and a console and can monitor dozens of football players or soldiers simultaneously. The company says the system detects, records and analyzes helmet impacts, sending a warning to a coach or military commander if any impact has a potential of causing a concussion or other brain injury. It also helps match what kind of hit a player took with a resulting injury, a key to prevention and treatment.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded the company a five-year, $3.6 million to work with Dartmouth Medical School, Dartmouth College, Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University, Virginia Tech and Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine on the helmet project.

Inventor and Simbex President Richard Greenwaldf said the project will study men’s football teams and men’s and women’s hockey teams. Simbex will analyze the information to determine which types of impacts and what frequency of impacts lead to head injuries.

The company has sold 20 combat helmets equipped with sensors to the Army to monitor bomb blasts and is working on high-tech ski helmets as well.

Co-inventor Joseph J. Crisco III will work on the research at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University.