Wrist Sensor Tells You How Stressed Out You Are
Baku, December 24 (AZERTAC). Devices from two start-ups could be used to treat people with anxiety disorders—and one of the devices may eventually diagnose pain.
Amid rising concerns over post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental illnesses, two MIT start-ups are developing wrist-worn sensors that can detect physiological changes—including perspiration and elevated temperature—that may signal the onset of events like anxiety attacks.
The data collected by these devices can be fed into an algorithm that aims to learn what triggers anxiety, or when people may be about to engage in a risky behaviour. One goal is to head off destructive behaviour, from drug abuse to suicide and violent outbursts, and to help with treatment.
Although the technology is still experimental and the devices are used mainly in medical research, they herald the appearance of consumer versions and associated apps that let people monitor their mood and stress levels. Other emerging technologies aim to detect emotion using subtle cues from how people use smartphones.
The newest of these startups, Boston-based Neumitra, emerged from stealth mode earlier this year with a device that can measure proxies for excitement or stress, including increased motion, increased skin conductance from perspiration, and elevated skin temperature. The device, called bandu, sends readings to the wearer’s smartphone, which records them for later analysis. The device also includes a display that can be customized to suggest, say, that you take your medication, call a loved one, or listen to a song.
The device is in clinical trials to help measure drug efficacy in sufferers of Rett Syndrome, a genetic neurological disorder that can cause loss of speech, problems with motor coördination, and impaired cognitive function. The goal there is to see whether the drug is producing any measurable changes in patients’ stress levels, movement, and sleep patterns.
Neumitra’s underlying technology is similar to that used by a commercial device made by Affectiva, a startup from MIT’s Media Lab that has made recent inroads in medical research.
The device is also in clinical trials to help measure drug efficacy in sufferers of Rett Syndrome, a genetic neurological disorder that can cause loss of speech, problems with motor coordination, and impaired cognitive function. The goal there is to see whether the drug is producing any measurable changes in patients’ stress levels, movement, and sleep patterns.
The company’s Q sensor has been used for more than a year in trials with an undisclosed company that is attempting to develop a physiological measure of pain. This would be an enormous advance, as pain diagnoses currently rely entirely on patients’ self-reporting.
Goldberg says the company was inspired in part by a war veteran who was having anxiety attacks. Three years into therapy he realized that one source of his stress triggers were his visits to a Whole Foods supermarket.
Goldberg made a map of his own stress triggers, including several hot spots on and around the MIT campus. He says he realized those were from rushing to events, and from being asked to speak publicly, as he did recently at a health startup event. Goldberg says the Neumitra device will sell for $249 to $1,499, depending on features and analytics, and will be made available to consumers, as well as researchers and other organizations, sometime in 2013.
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