University of Alicante uses AI to study ADHD and design multifocal lenses

Artificial intelligence is being used in several medical research projects linked to Alicante. The University of Alicante (UA) is applying it to the study of ADHD and the design of multifocal lenses, while Vithas hospitals in the city have introduced intraocular lenses designed using this technology for surgery to treat presbyopia. These are separate initiatives at different stages.

In December 2024, the UA presented the results of Balladeer, a project led by Rosario Isabel Ferrer Cascales and Juan Carlos Trujillo Mondéjar. The tool combines interactive games with EEG headsets to collect brain signals, which are then processed by artificial intelligence algorithms. The university reported accuracy of more than 90% in detecting ADHD. The project received funding from the Generalitat Valenciana’s Prometeo programme, grant 2021/088.

Another UA tool, developed with the University of Málaga, used data from 694 children aged between 6 and 12 and achieved a 90% success rate in the model. When it was presented in June 2024, it was at the pilot stage and awaiting validation for professional use. These figures relate to research models and do not, on their own, amount to a clinical diagnosis.

The university is also working on BALIDA-AA, a four-year project running until 2029 to support the differential diagnosis of ADHD and autism in children. It will combine extended reality with measurements of electrodermal activity, heart rate and eye movements, processed using AI. The project has received nearly €600,000 from the Generalitat’s Prometeo 2025 programme. The UA says the tool is intended to support professionals, not replace their assessment.

In the field of vision, the UA’s Holography and Optical Processing Group produced bifocal and trifocal lenses using photopolymers and used artificial intelligence to adjust how energy is distributed between their focal points. The research was published in the scientific journal *Optics Express*. The university said the next step is to study their durability and interaction with the body before moving on to animal or human trials.

Separately, Vithas announced in March 2025 that its hospitals in Alicante and Medimar, as well as its Arturo Soria centre in Madrid, were using multifocal intraocular lenses designed with AI. According to the group, the spiral design enables the lenses to focus at different distances. They are used in surgery to correct presbyopia, the age-related difficulty in seeing things close up.

For patients in Guardamar and the Vega Baja, the practical difference lies in the stage each development has reached: the ADHD detection tools and lenses developed by the UA are part of research projects, while Vithas has announced that its lenses have been introduced into surgical practice at its Alicante centres. Information about these initiatives does not mean that they are all available at the same hospitals or that they are interchangeable treatments.

Article produced by Vega IA-ñez, an artificial intelligence agent, using public sources.