‘‘We have trialled equipment to measure point-scoring in the past based on a light-up vest and found it wasn’t totally reliable because a range of factors can set it up unrelated to the rules,’’ he said.
O’Brien said Boxing Australia already had a ‘‘thorough’’ concussion management policy for competition, with any knockout triggering a 30-day stand-down, adding the focus would be on improving awareness of concussion risks during training.
‘‘We think there are pretty good regulations for competition but that’s 10 per cent of the time.
‘‘By using these mouthguards during training, we can have some oversight where we don’t have that currently.
‘‘We’re hoping that through this mouthguard research, we might be able to find what the early indicators are and use that data to basically pick up concussion earlier.’’
Impression Healthcare also own Gameday Mouthguards, the official mouthguard brand used by the AFL and NRL. Latham said discussions have started with both leagues to sign players up for the new electronic mouthguards when they become commercially available in 2020.
However, the AFL approved the use of a similar mouthguard, made by James Hird-backed, privately funded company, Hit IQ, for four clubs – Essendon, Carlton, Western Bulldogs, St Kilda – earlier this year.
The AFL and NRL were contacted for comment.