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Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring
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Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Physical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2016) | Viewed by 216011

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Ki H. Chon

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
Interests: biomedical instrumentation; signal processing; machine learning; smart health diagnostics; wearable devices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Smartphones have become so ubiquitous that they are being used as virtually wearable monitors, including heart rate and activity monitoring. By taking advantage of the smartphone’s processing power, peripheral noninvasive and cost-effective sensors, and wireless communications capabilities, recent efforts have been made to create various medical applications for self-monitoring. For example, there have been some recent advances which allow measurements of respiratory rates and cardiac arrhythmia detection all directly from a video camera of a smartphone without the use of external sensors. Given the progress to date, this Special Issue aims to publish new advances in extracting physiological measurements from a smartphone with or without external sensors. Some of the physiological measurement capabilities of interest may include new advances in heart rates, respiratory rates, tidal volume, respiratory sound diagnostics, cardiac arrhythmias, and blood pressure data acquisition and processing. New algorithm development for extraction of the above-mentioned physiological measurements that can be applicable for smartphones is also of significant interest for this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Ki H. Chon
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • mobile health
  • smartphones
  • vital signs
  • wearable health monitors
  • biosignal processing and diagnostics
  • cardiac arrhythmia detection

Published Papers (22 papers)

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543 KiB  
Article
A Smartphone Application for Personal Assessments of Body Composition and Phenotyping
by Gian Luca Farina, Fabrizio Spataro, Antonino De Lorenzo and Henry Lukaski
Sensors 2016, 16(12), 2163; https://doi.org/10.3390/s16122163 - 17 Dec 2016
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 12401 | Correction
Abstract
Personal assessments of body phenotype can enhance success in weight management but are limited by the lack of availability of practical methods. We describe a novel smart phone application of digital photography (DP) and determine its validity to estimate fat mass (FM). This [...] Read more.
Personal assessments of body phenotype can enhance success in weight management but are limited by the lack of availability of practical methods. We describe a novel smart phone application of digital photography (DP) and determine its validity to estimate fat mass (FM). This approach utilizes the percent (%) occupancy of an individual lateral whole-body digital image and regions indicative of adipose accumulation associated with increased risk of cardio-metabolic disease. We measured 117 healthy adults (63 females and 54 males aged 19 to 65 years) with DP and dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and report here the development and validation of this application. Inter-observer variability of the determination of % occupancy was 0.02%. Predicted and reference FM values were significantly related in females (R2 = 0.949, SEE = 2.83) and males (R2 = 0.907, SEE = 2.71). Differences between predicted and measured FM values were small (0.02 kg, p = 0.96 and 0.07 kg, p = 0.96) for females and males, respectively. No significant bias was found; limits of agreement ranged from 5.6 to −5.4 kg for females and from 5.6 to −5.7 kg for males. These promising results indicate that DP is a practical and valid method for personal body composition assessments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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2249 KiB  
Article
High-Resolution Time-Frequency Spectrum-Based Lung Function Test from a Smartphone Microphone
by Tharoeun Thap, Heewon Chung, Changwon Jeong, Ki-Eun Hwang, Hak-Ryul Kim, Kwon-Ha Yoon and Jinseok Lee
Sensors 2016, 16(8), 1305; https://doi.org/10.3390/s16081305 - 17 Aug 2016
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 8842
Abstract
In this paper, a smartphone-based lung function test, developed to estimate lung function parameters using a high-resolution time-frequency spectrum from a smartphone built-in microphone is presented. A method of estimation of the forced expiratory volume in 1 s divided by forced vital capacity [...] Read more.
In this paper, a smartphone-based lung function test, developed to estimate lung function parameters using a high-resolution time-frequency spectrum from a smartphone built-in microphone is presented. A method of estimation of the forced expiratory volume in 1 s divided by forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) based on the variable frequency complex demodulation method (VFCDM) is first proposed. We evaluated our proposed method on 26 subjects, including 13 healthy subjects and 13 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, by comparing with the parameters clinically obtained from pulmonary function tests (PFTs). For the healthy subjects, we found that an absolute error (AE) and a root mean squared error (RMSE) of the FEV1/FVC ratio were 4.49% ± 3.38% and 5.54%, respectively. For the COPD patients, we found that AE and RMSE from COPD patients were 10.30% ± 10.59% and 14.48%, respectively. For both groups, we compared the results using the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and short-time Fourier transform (STFT), and found that VFCDM was superior to CWT and STFT. Further, to estimate other parameters, including forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), and peak expiratory flow (PEF), regression analysis was conducted to establish a linear transformation. However, the parameters FVC, FEV1, and PEF had correlation factor r values of 0.323, 0.275, and −0.257, respectively, while FEV1/FVC had an r value of 0.814. The results obtained suggest that only the FEV1/FVC ratio can be accurately estimated from a smartphone built-in microphone. The other parameters, including FVC, FEV1, and PEF, were subjective and dependent on the subject’s familiarization with the test and performance of forced exhalation toward the microphone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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2743 KiB  
Article
Employing an Incentive Spirometer to Calibrate Tidal Volumes Estimated from a Smartphone Camera
by Bersain A. Reyes, Natasa Reljin, Youngsun Kong, Yunyoung Nam, Sangho Ha and Ki H. Chon
Sensors 2016, 16(3), 397; https://doi.org/10.3390/s16030397 - 18 Mar 2016
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 12322
Abstract
A smartphone-based tidal volume (VT) estimator was recently introduced by our research group, where an Android application provides a chest movement signal whose peak-to-peak amplitude is highly correlated with reference VT measured by a spirometer. We found a Normalized Root [...] Read more.
A smartphone-based tidal volume (VT) estimator was recently introduced by our research group, where an Android application provides a chest movement signal whose peak-to-peak amplitude is highly correlated with reference VT measured by a spirometer. We found a Normalized Root Mean Squared Error (NRMSE) of 14.998% ± 5.171% (mean ± SD) when the smartphone measures were calibrated using spirometer data. However, the availability of a spirometer device for calibration is not realistic outside clinical or research environments. In order to be used by the general population on a daily basis, a simple calibration procedure not relying on specialized devices is required. In this study, we propose taking advantage of the linear correlation between smartphone measurements and VT to obtain a calibration model using information computed while the subject breathes through a commercially-available incentive spirometer (IS). Experiments were performed on twelve (N = 12) healthy subjects. In addition to corroborating findings from our previous study using a spirometer for calibration, we found that the calibration procedure using an IS resulted in a fixed bias of −0.051 L and a RMSE of 0.189 ± 0.074 L corresponding to 18.559% ± 6.579% when normalized. Although it has a small underestimation and slightly increased error, the proposed calibration procedure using an IS has the advantages of being simple, fast, and affordable. This study supports the feasibility of developing a portable smartphone-based breathing status monitor that provides information about breathing depth, in addition to the more commonly estimated respiratory rate, on a daily basis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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2492 KiB  
Article
Sinabro: A Smartphone-Integrated Opportunistic Electrocardiogram Monitoring System
by Sungjun Kwon, Dongseok Lee, Jeehoon Kim, Youngki Lee, Seungwoo Kang, Sangwon Seo and Kwangsuk Park
Sensors 2016, 16(3), 361; https://doi.org/10.3390/s16030361 - 11 Mar 2016
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 6231
Abstract
In our preliminary study, we proposed a smartphone-integrated, unobtrusive electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring system, Sinabro, which monitors a user’s ECG opportunistically during daily smartphone use without explicit user intervention. The proposed system also monitors ECG-derived features, such as heart rate (HR) and heart rate [...] Read more.
In our preliminary study, we proposed a smartphone-integrated, unobtrusive electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring system, Sinabro, which monitors a user’s ECG opportunistically during daily smartphone use without explicit user intervention. The proposed system also monitors ECG-derived features, such as heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), to support the pervasive healthcare apps for smartphones based on the user’s high-level contexts, such as stress and affective state levels. In this study, we have extended the Sinabro system by: (1) upgrading the sensor device; (2) improving the feature extraction process; and (3) evaluating extensions of the system. We evaluated these extensions with a good set of algorithm parameters that were suggested based on empirical analyses. The results showed that the system could capture ECG reliably and extract highly accurate ECG-derived features with a reasonable rate of data drop during the user’s daily smartphone use. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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3004 KiB  
Article
A Wearable Channel Selection-Based Brain-Computer Interface for Motor Imagery Detection
by Chi-Chun Lo, Tsung-Yi Chien, Yu-Chun Chen, Shang-Ho Tsai, Wai-Chi Fang and Bor-Shyh Lin
Sensors 2016, 16(2), 213; https://doi.org/10.3390/s16020213 - 06 Feb 2016
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 9411
Abstract
Motor imagery-based brain-computer interface (BCI) is a communication interface between an external machine and the brain. Many kinds of spatial filters are used in BCIs to enhance the electroencephalography (EEG) features related to motor imagery. The approach of channel selection, developed to reserve [...] Read more.
Motor imagery-based brain-computer interface (BCI) is a communication interface between an external machine and the brain. Many kinds of spatial filters are used in BCIs to enhance the electroencephalography (EEG) features related to motor imagery. The approach of channel selection, developed to reserve meaningful EEG channels, is also an important technique for the development of BCIs. However, current BCI systems require a conventional EEG machine and EEG electrodes with conductive gel to acquire multi-channel EEG signals and then transmit these EEG signals to the back-end computer to perform the approach of channel selection. This reduces the convenience of use in daily life and increases the limitations of BCI applications. In order to improve the above issues, a novel wearable channel selection-based brain-computer interface is proposed. Here, retractable comb-shaped active dry electrodes are designed to measure the EEG signals on a hairy site, without conductive gel. By the design of analog CAR spatial filters and the firmware of EEG acquisition module, the function of spatial filters could be performed without any calculation, and channel selection could be performed in the front-end device to improve the practicability of detecting motor imagery in the wearable EEG device directly or in commercial mobile phones or tablets, which may have relatively low system specifications. Finally, the performance of the proposed BCI is investigated, and the experimental results show that the proposed system is a good wearable BCI system prototype. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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804 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Personalization on Smartphone-Based Fall Detectors
by Carlos Medrano, Inmaculada Plaza, Raúl Igual, Ángel Sánchez and Manuel Castro
Sensors 2016, 16(1), 117; https://doi.org/10.3390/s16010117 - 18 Jan 2016
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 6531
Abstract
The risk of falling is high among different groups of people, such as older people, individuals with Parkinson's disease or patients in neuro-rehabilitation units. Developing robust fall detectors is important for acting promptly in case of a fall. Therefore, in this study we [...] Read more.
The risk of falling is high among different groups of people, such as older people, individuals with Parkinson's disease or patients in neuro-rehabilitation units. Developing robust fall detectors is important for acting promptly in case of a fall. Therefore, in this study we propose to personalize smartphone-based detectors to boost their performance as compared to a non-personalized system. Four algorithms were investigated using a public dataset: three novelty detection algorithms—Nearest Neighbor (NN), Local Outlier Factor (LOF) and One-Class Support Vector Machine (OneClass-SVM)—and a traditional supervised algorithm, Support Vector Machine (SVM). The effect of personalization was studied for each subject by considering two different training conditions: data coming only from that subject or data coming from the remaining subjects. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was selected as the primary figure of merit. The results show that there is a general trend towards the increase in performance by personalizing the detector, but the effect depends on the individual being considered. A personalized NN can reach the performance of a non-personalized SVM (average AUC of 0.9861 and 0.9795, respectively), which is remarkable since NN only uses activities of daily living for training. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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419 KiB  
Article
Measurement Properties of the Smartphone-Based B-B Score in Current Shoulder Pathologies
by Claude Pichonnaz, Cyntia Duc, Nigel Gleeson, Céline Ancey, Hervé Jaccard, Estelle Lécureux, Alain Farron, Brigitte M. Jolles and Kamiar Aminian
Sensors 2015, 15(10), 26801-26817; https://doi.org/10.3390/s151026801 - 22 Oct 2015
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 7611
Abstract
This study is aimed at the determination of the measurement properties of the shoulder function B-B Score measured with a smartphone. This score measures the symmetry between sides of a power-related metric for two selected movements, with 100% representing perfect symmetry. Twenty healthy [...] Read more.
This study is aimed at the determination of the measurement properties of the shoulder function B-B Score measured with a smartphone. This score measures the symmetry between sides of a power-related metric for two selected movements, with 100% representing perfect symmetry. Twenty healthy participants, 20 patients with rotator cuff conditions, 23 with fractures, 22 with capsulitis, and 23 with shoulder instabilities were measured twice across a six-month interval using the B-B Score and shoulder function questionnaires. The discriminative power, responsiveness, diagnostic power, concurrent validity, minimal detectable change (MDC), minimal clinically important improvement (MCII), and patient acceptable symptom state (PASS) were evaluated. Significant differences with the control group and significant baseline—six-month differences were found for the rotator cuff condition, fracture, and capsulitis patient groups. The B-B Score was responsive and demonstrated excellent diagnostic power, except for shoulder instability. The correlations with clinical scores were generally moderate to high, but lower for instability. The MDC was 18.1%, the MCII was 25.2%, and the PASS was 77.6. No floor effect was observed. The B-B Score demonstrated excellent measurement properties in populations with rotator cuff conditions, proximal humerus fractures, and capsulitis, and can thus be used as a routine test to evaluate those patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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1914 KiB  
Article
A Smartphone-Based Automatic Diagnosis System for Facial Nerve Palsy
by Hyun Seok Kim, So Young Kim, Young Ho Kim and Kwang Suk Park
Sensors 2015, 15(10), 26756-26768; https://doi.org/10.3390/s151026756 - 21 Oct 2015
Cited by 48 | Viewed by 6883
Abstract
Facial nerve palsy induces a weakness or loss of facial expression through damage of the facial nerve. A quantitative and reliable assessment system for facial nerve palsy is required for both patients and clinicians. In this study, we propose a rapid and portable [...] Read more.
Facial nerve palsy induces a weakness or loss of facial expression through damage of the facial nerve. A quantitative and reliable assessment system for facial nerve palsy is required for both patients and clinicians. In this study, we propose a rapid and portable smartphone-based automatic diagnosis system that discriminates facial nerve palsy from normal subjects. Facial landmarks are localized and tracked by an incremental parallel cascade of the linear regression method. An asymmetry index is computed using the displacement ratio between the left and right side of the forehead and mouth regions during three motions: resting, raising eye-brow and smiling. To classify facial nerve palsy, we used Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) and Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Leave-one-out Cross Validation (LOOCV) with 36 subjects. The classification accuracy rate was 88.9%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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3762 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Mental, Emotional and Physical Stress through Analysis of Physiological Signals Using Smartphones
by Inma Mohino-Herranz, Roberto Gil-Pita, Javier Ferreira, Manuel Rosa-Zurera and Fernando Seoane
Sensors 2015, 15(10), 25607-25627; https://doi.org/10.3390/s151025607 - 08 Oct 2015
Cited by 43 | Viewed by 8880
Abstract
Determining the stress level of a subject in real time could be of special interest in certain professional activities to allow the monitoring of soldiers, pilots, emergency personnel and other professionals responsible for human lives. Assessment of current mental fitness for executing a [...] Read more.
Determining the stress level of a subject in real time could be of special interest in certain professional activities to allow the monitoring of soldiers, pilots, emergency personnel and other professionals responsible for human lives. Assessment of current mental fitness for executing a task at hand might avoid unnecessary risks. To obtain this knowledge, two physiological measurements were recorded in this work using customized non-invasive wearable instrumentation that measures electrocardiogram (ECG) and thoracic electrical bioimpedance (TEB) signals. The relevant information from each measurement is extracted via evaluation of a reduced set of selected features. These features are primarily obtained from filtered and processed versions of the raw time measurements with calculations of certain statistical and descriptive parameters. Selection of the reduced set of features was performed using genetic algorithms, thus constraining the computational cost of the real-time implementation. Different classification approaches have been studied, but neural networks were chosen for this investigation because they represent a good tradeoff between the intelligence of the solution and computational complexity. Three different application scenarios were considered. In the first scenario, the proposed system is capable of distinguishing among different types of activity with a 21.2% probability error, for activities coded as neutral, emotional, mental and physical. In the second scenario, the proposed solution distinguishes among the three different emotional states of neutral, sadness and disgust, with a probability error of 4.8%. In the third scenario, the system is able to distinguish between low mental load and mental overload with a probability error of 32.3%. The computational cost was calculated, and the solution was implemented in commercially available Android-based smartphones. The results indicate that execution of such a monitoring solution is negligible compared to the nominal computational load of current smartphones. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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671 KiB  
Article
Automatic Spiral Analysis for Objective Assessment of Motor Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease
by Mevludin Memedi, Aleksander Sadikov, Vida Groznik, Jure Žabkar, Martin Možina, Filip Bergquist, Anders Johansson, Dietrich Haubenberger and Dag Nyholm
Sensors 2015, 15(9), 23727-23744; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150923727 - 17 Sep 2015
Cited by 46 | Viewed by 8303
Abstract
A challenge for the clinical management of advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients is the emergence of fluctuations in motor performance, which represents a significant source of disability during activities of daily living of the patients. There is a lack of objective measurement of [...] Read more.
A challenge for the clinical management of advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients is the emergence of fluctuations in motor performance, which represents a significant source of disability during activities of daily living of the patients. There is a lack of objective measurement of treatment effects for in-clinic and at-home use that can provide an overview of the treatment response. The objective of this paper was to develop a method for objective quantification of advanced PD motor symptoms related to off episodes and peak dose dyskinesia, using spiral data gathered by a touch screen telemetry device. More specifically, the aim was to objectively characterize motor symptoms (bradykinesia and dyskinesia), to help in automating the process of visual interpretation of movement anomalies in spirals as rated by movement disorder specialists. Digitized upper limb movement data of 65 advanced PD patients and 10 healthy (HE) subjects were recorded as they performed spiral drawing tasks on a touch screen device in their home environment settings. Several spatiotemporal features were extracted from the time series and used as inputs to machine learning methods. The methods were validated against ratings on animated spirals scored by four movement disorder specialists who visually assessed a set of kinematic features and the motor symptom. The ability of the method to discriminate between PD patients and HE subjects and the test-retest reliability of the computed scores were also evaluated. Computed scores correlated well with mean visual ratings of individual kinematic features. The best performing classifier (Multilayer Perceptron) classified the motor symptom (bradykinesia or dyskinesia) with an accuracy of 84% and area under the receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.86 in relation to visual classifications of the raters. In addition, the method provided high discriminating power when distinguishing between PD patients and HE subjects as well as had good test-retest reliability. This study demonstrated the potential of using digital spiral analysis for objective quantification of PD-specific and/or treatment-induced motor symptoms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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868 KiB  
Article
Cuffless and Continuous Blood Pressure Estimation from the Heart Sound Signals
by Rong-Chao Peng, Wen-Rong Yan, Ning-Ling Zhang, Wan-Hua Lin, Xiao-Lin Zhou and Yuan-Ting Zhang
Sensors 2015, 15(9), 23653-23666; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150923653 - 17 Sep 2015
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 8503
Abstract
Cardiovascular disease, like hypertension, is one of the top killers of human life and early detection of cardiovascular disease is of great importance. However, traditional medical devices are often bulky and expensive, and unsuitable for home healthcare. In this paper, we proposed an [...] Read more.
Cardiovascular disease, like hypertension, is one of the top killers of human life and early detection of cardiovascular disease is of great importance. However, traditional medical devices are often bulky and expensive, and unsuitable for home healthcare. In this paper, we proposed an easy and inexpensive technique to estimate continuous blood pressure from the heart sound signals acquired by the microphone of a smartphone. A cold-pressor experiment was performed in 32 healthy subjects, with a smartphone to acquire heart sound signals and with a commercial device to measure continuous blood pressure. The Fourier spectrum of the second heart sound and the blood pressure were regressed using a support vector machine, and the accuracy of the regression was evaluated using 10-fold cross-validation. Statistical analysis showed that the mean correlation coefficients between the predicted values from the regression model and the measured values from the commercial device were 0.707, 0.712, and 0.748 for systolic, diastolic, and mean blood pressure, respectively, and that the mean errors were less than 5 mmHg, with standard deviations less than 8 mmHg. These results suggest that this technique is of potential use for cuffless and continuous blood pressure monitoring and it has promising application in home healthcare services. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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2047 KiB  
Article
Pre-Processing Effect on the Accuracy of Event-Based Activity Segmentation and Classification through Inertial Sensors
by Benish Fida, Ivan Bernabucci, Daniele Bibbo, Silvia Conforto and Maurizio Schmid
Sensors 2015, 15(9), 23095-23109; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150923095 - 11 Sep 2015
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 7025
Abstract
Inertial sensors are increasingly being used to recognize and classify physical activities in a variety of applications. For monitoring and fitness applications, it is crucial to develop methods able to segment each activity cycle, e.g., a gait cycle, so that the successive classification [...] Read more.
Inertial sensors are increasingly being used to recognize and classify physical activities in a variety of applications. For monitoring and fitness applications, it is crucial to develop methods able to segment each activity cycle, e.g., a gait cycle, so that the successive classification step may be more accurate. To increase detection accuracy, pre-processing is often used, with a concurrent increase in computational cost. In this paper, the effect of pre-processing operations on the detection and classification of locomotion activities was investigated, to check whether the presence of pre-processing significantly contributes to an increase in accuracy. The pre-processing stages evaluated in this study were inclination correction and de-noising. Level walking, step ascending, descending and running were monitored by using a shank-mounted inertial sensor. Raw and filtered segments, obtained from a modified version of a rule-based gait detection algorithm optimized for sequential processing, were processed to extract time and frequency-based features for physical activity classification through a support vector machine classifier. The proposed method accurately detected >99% gait cycles from raw data and produced >98% accuracy on these segmented gait cycles. Pre-processing did not substantially increase classification accuracy, thus highlighting the possibility of reducing the amount of pre-processing for real-time applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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1547 KiB  
Article
Smartphone-Based Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis Devices for Daily Obesity Management
by Ahyoung Choi, Justin Younghyun Kim, Seongwook Jo, Jae Hwan Jee, Steven B. Heymsfield, Yusuf A. Bhagat, Insoo Kim and Jaegeol Cho
Sensors 2015, 15(9), 22151-22166; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150922151 - 02 Sep 2015
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 12697
Abstract
Current bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) systems are often large, cumbersome devices which require strict electrode placement on the user, thus inhibiting mobile capabilities. In this work, we developed a handheld BIA device that measures impedance from multiple frequencies (5 kHz~200 kHz) with four [...] Read more.
Current bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA) systems are often large, cumbersome devices which require strict electrode placement on the user, thus inhibiting mobile capabilities. In this work, we developed a handheld BIA device that measures impedance from multiple frequencies (5 kHz~200 kHz) with four contact electrodes and evaluated the BIA device against standard body composition analysis systems: a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) system (GE Lunar Prodigy, GE Healthcare, Buckinghamshire, UK) and a whole-body BIA system (InBody S10, InBody, Co. Ltd, Seoul, Korea). In the study, 568 healthy participants, varying widely in body mass index, age, and gender, were recruited at two research centers: the Samsung Medical Center (SMC) in South Korea and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) in the United States. From the measured impedance data, we analyzed individual body fat and skeletal muscle mass by applying linear regression analysis against target reference data. Results indicated strong correlations of impedance measurements between the prototype pathways and corresponding InBody S10 electrical pathways (R = 0.93, p < 0.0001). Additionally, body fat estimates from DXA did not yield significant differences (p > 0.728 (paired t-test), DXA mean body fat 29.45 ± 10.77 kg, estimated body fat 29.52 ± 12.53 kg). Thus, this portable BIA system shows a promising ability to estimate an individual’s body composition that is comparable to large stationary BIA systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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903 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Android Device-Based Solutions for Fall Detection
by Eduardo Casilari, Rafael Luque and María-José Morón
Sensors 2015, 15(8), 17827-17894; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150817827 - 23 Jul 2015
Cited by 64 | Viewed by 11776
Abstract
Falls are a major cause of health and psychological problems as well as hospitalization costs among older adults. Thus, the investigation on automatic Fall Detection Systems (FDSs) has received special attention from the research community during the last decade. In this area, the [...] Read more.
Falls are a major cause of health and psychological problems as well as hospitalization costs among older adults. Thus, the investigation on automatic Fall Detection Systems (FDSs) has received special attention from the research community during the last decade. In this area, the widespread popularity, decreasing price, computing capabilities, built-in sensors and multiplicity of wireless interfaces of Android-based devices (especially smartphones) have fostered the adoption of this technology to deploy wearable and inexpensive architectures for fall detection. This paper presents a critical and thorough analysis of those existing fall detection systems that are based on Android devices. The review systematically classifies and compares the proposals of the literature taking into account different criteria such as the system architecture, the employed sensors, the detection algorithm or the response in case of a fall alarms. The study emphasizes the analysis of the evaluation methods that are employed to assess the effectiveness of the detection process. The review reveals the complete lack of a reference framework to validate and compare the proposals. In addition, the study also shows that most research works do not evaluate the actual applicability of the Android devices (with limited battery and computing resources) to fall detection solutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
2004 KiB  
Article
Medically Relevant Assays with a Simple Smartphone and Tablet Based Fluorescence Detection System
by Piotr Wargocki, Wei Deng, Ayad G. Anwer and Ewa M. Goldys
Sensors 2015, 15(5), 11653-11664; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150511653 - 20 May 2015
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 16277
Abstract
Cell phones and smart phones can be reconfigured as biomedical sensor devices but this requires specialized add-ons. In this paper we present a simple cell phone-based portable bioassay platform, which can be used with fluorescent assays in solution. The system consists of a [...] Read more.
Cell phones and smart phones can be reconfigured as biomedical sensor devices but this requires specialized add-ons. In this paper we present a simple cell phone-based portable bioassay platform, which can be used with fluorescent assays in solution. The system consists of a tablet, a polarizer, a smart phone (camera) and a box that provides dark readout conditions. The assay in a well plate is placed on the tablet screen acting as an excitation source. A polarizer on top of the well plate separates excitation light from assay fluorescence emission enabling assay readout with a smartphone camera. The assay result is obtained by analysing the intensity of image pixels in an appropriate colour channel. With this device we carried out two assays, for collagenase and trypsin using fluorescein as the detected fluorophore. The results of collagenase assay with the lowest measured concentration of 3.75 µg/mL and 0.938 µg in total in the sample were comparable to those obtained by a microplate reader. The lowest measured amount of trypsin was 930 pg, which is comparable to the low detection limit of 400 pg for this assay obtained in a microplate reader. The device is sensitive enough to be used in point-of-care medical diagnostics of clinically relevant conditions, including arthritis, cystic fibrosis and acute pancreatitis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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1731 KiB  
Article
A Wearable Context-Aware ECG Monitoring System Integrated with Built-in Kinematic Sensors of the Smartphone
by Fen Miao, Yayu Cheng, Yi He, Qingyun He and Ye Li
Sensors 2015, 15(5), 11465-11484; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150511465 - 19 May 2015
Cited by 114 | Viewed by 17129
Abstract
Continuously monitoring the ECG signals over hours combined with activity status is very important for preventing cardiovascular diseases. A traditional ECG holter is often inconvenient to carry because it has many electrodes attached to the chest and because it is heavy. This work [...] Read more.
Continuously monitoring the ECG signals over hours combined with activity status is very important for preventing cardiovascular diseases. A traditional ECG holter is often inconvenient to carry because it has many electrodes attached to the chest and because it is heavy. This work proposes a wearable, low power context-aware ECG monitoring system integrated built-in kinetic sensors of the smartphone with a self-designed ECG sensor. The wearable ECG sensor is comprised of a fully integrated analog front-end (AFE), a commercial micro control unit (MCU), a secure digital (SD) card, and a Bluetooth module. The whole sensor is very small with a size of only 58 × 50 × 10 mm for wearable monitoring application due to the AFE design, and the total power dissipation in a full round of ECG acquisition is only 12.5 mW. With the help of built-in kinetic sensors of the smartphone, the proposed system can compute and recognize user’s physical activity, and thus provide context-aware information for the continuous ECG monitoring. The experimental results demonstrated the performance of proposed system in improving diagnosis accuracy for arrhythmias and identifying the most common abnormal ECG patterns in different activities. In conclusion, we provide a wearable, accurate and energy-efficient system for long-term and context-aware ECG monitoring without any extra cost on kinetic sensor design but with the help of the widespread smartphone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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2155 KiB  
Article
Infrared Thermal Imaging System on a Mobile Phone
by Fu-Feng Lee, Feng Chen and Jing Liu
Sensors 2015, 15(5), 10166-10179; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150510166 - 30 Apr 2015
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 9465
Abstract
A novel concept towards pervasively available low-cost infrared thermal imaging system lunched on a mobile phone (MTIS) was proposed and demonstrated in this article. Through digestion on the evolutional development of milestone technologies in the area, it can be found that the portable [...] Read more.
A novel concept towards pervasively available low-cost infrared thermal imaging system lunched on a mobile phone (MTIS) was proposed and demonstrated in this article. Through digestion on the evolutional development of milestone technologies in the area, it can be found that the portable and low-cost design would become the main stream of thermal imager for civilian purposes. As a representative trial towards this important goal, a MTIS consisting of a thermal infrared module (TIM) and mobile phone with embedded exclusive software (IRAPP) was presented. The basic strategy for the TIM construction is illustrated, including sensor adoption and optical specification. The user-oriented software was developed in the Android environment by considering its popularity and expandability. Computational algorithms with non-uniformity correction and scene-change detection are established to optimize the imaging quality and efficiency of TIM. The performance experiments and analysis indicated that the currently available detective distance for the MTIS is about 29 m. Furthermore, some family-targeted utilization enabled by MTIS was also outlined, such as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) prevention, etc. This work suggests a ubiquitous way of significantly extending thermal infrared image into rather wide areas especially health care in the coming time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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2381 KiB  
Article
Smartphone Applications with Sensors Used in a Tertiary Hospital—Current Status and Future Challenges
by Yu Rang Park, Yura Lee, Guna Lee, Jae Ho Lee and Soo-Yong Shin
Sensors 2015, 15(5), 9854-9869; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150509854 - 27 Apr 2015
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 8883
Abstract
Smartphones have been widely used recently to monitor heart rate and activity, since they have the necessary processing power, non-invasive and cost-effective sensors, and wireless communication capabilities. Consequently, healthcare applications (apps) using smartphone-based sensors have been highlighted for non-invasive physiological monitoring. In addition, [...] Read more.
Smartphones have been widely used recently to monitor heart rate and activity, since they have the necessary processing power, non-invasive and cost-effective sensors, and wireless communication capabilities. Consequently, healthcare applications (apps) using smartphone-based sensors have been highlighted for non-invasive physiological monitoring. In addition, several healthcare apps have received FDA clearance. However, in spite of their potential, healthcare apps with smartphone-based sensors are mostly used outside of hospitals and have not been widely adopted for patient care in hospitals until recently. In this paper, we describe the experience of using smartphone apps with sensors in a large medical center in Korea. Among >20 apps developed in our medical center, four were extensively analyzed (“My Cancer Diary”, “Point-of-Care HIV Check”, “Blood Culture” and “mAMIS”), since they use smartphone-based sensors such as the camera and barcode reader to enter data into the electronic health record system. By analyzing the usage patterns of these apps for data entry with sensors, the current limitations of smartphone-based sensors in a clinical setting, hurdles against adoption in the medical center, benefits of smartphone-based sensors and potential future research directions could be evaluated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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2857 KiB  
Article
Tidal Volume Estimation Using the Blanket Fractal Dimension of the Tracheal Sounds Acquired by Smartphone
by Natasa Reljin, Bersain A. Reyes and Ki H. Chon
Sensors 2015, 15(5), 9773-9790; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150509773 - 27 Apr 2015
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 7157
Abstract
In this paper, we propose the use of blanket fractal dimension (BFD) to estimate the tidal volume from smartphone-acquired tracheal sounds. We collected tracheal sounds with a Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone, from five (N = 5) healthy volunteers. Each volunteer performed the [...] Read more.
In this paper, we propose the use of blanket fractal dimension (BFD) to estimate the tidal volume from smartphone-acquired tracheal sounds. We collected tracheal sounds with a Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone, from five (N = 5) healthy volunteers. Each volunteer performed the experiment six times; first to obtain linear and exponential fitting models, and then to fit new data onto the existing models. Thus, the total number of recordings was 30. The estimated volumes were compared to the true values, obtained with a Respitrace system, which was considered as a reference. Since Shannon entropy (SE) is frequently used as a feature in tracheal sound analyses, we estimated the tidal volume from the same sounds by using SE as well. The evaluation of the performed estimation, using BFD and SE methods, was quantified by the normalized root-mean-squared error (NRMSE). The results show that the BFD outperformed the SE (at least twice smaller NRMSE was obtained). The smallest NRMSE error of 15.877% ± 9.246% (mean ± standard deviation) was obtained with the BFD and exponential model. In addition, it was shown that the fitting curves calculated during the first day of experiments could be successfully used for at least the five following days. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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4169 KiB  
Article
A Study of New Pulse Auscultation System
by Ying-Yun Chen and Rong-Seng Chang
Sensors 2015, 15(4), 8712-8731; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150408712 - 14 Apr 2015
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7026
Abstract
This study presents a new type of pulse auscultation system, which uses a condenser microphone to measure pulse sound waves on the wrist, captures the microphone signal for filtering, amplifies the useful signal and outputs it to an oscilloscope in analog form for [...] Read more.
This study presents a new type of pulse auscultation system, which uses a condenser microphone to measure pulse sound waves on the wrist, captures the microphone signal for filtering, amplifies the useful signal and outputs it to an oscilloscope in analog form for waveform display and storage and delivers it to a computer to perform a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and convert the pulse sound waveform into a heartbeat frequency. Furthermore, it also uses an audio signal amplifier to deliver the pulse sound by speaker. The study observed the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine’s pulsing techniques, where pulse signals at places called “cun”, “guan” and “chi” of the left hand were measured during lifting (100 g), searching (125 g) and pressing (150 g) actions. Because the system collects the vibration sound caused by the pulse, the sensor itself is not affected by the applied pressure, unlike current pulse piezoelectric sensing instruments, therefore, under any kind of pulsing pressure, it displays pulse changes and waveforms with the same accuracy. We provide an acquired pulse and waveform signal suitable for Chinese Medicine practitioners’ objective pulse diagnosis, thus providing a scientific basis for this Traditional Chinese Medicine practice. This study also presents a novel circuit design using an active filtering method. An operational amplifier with its differential features eliminates the interference from external signals, including the instant high-frequency noise. In addition, the system has the advantages of simple circuitry, cheap cost and high precision. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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Review

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1890 KiB  
Review
Tracking the Evolution of Smartphone Sensing for Monitoring Human Movement
by Michael B. Del Rosario, Stephen J. Redmond and Nigel H. Lovell
Sensors 2015, 15(8), 18901-18933; https://doi.org/10.3390/s150818901 - 31 Jul 2015
Cited by 148 | Viewed by 17319
Abstract
Advances in mobile technology have led to the emergence of the “smartphone”, a new class of device with more advanced connectivity features that have quickly made it a constant presence in our lives. Smartphones are equipped with comparatively advanced computing capabilities, a global [...] Read more.
Advances in mobile technology have led to the emergence of the “smartphone”, a new class of device with more advanced connectivity features that have quickly made it a constant presence in our lives. Smartphones are equipped with comparatively advanced computing capabilities, a global positioning system (GPS) receivers, and sensing capabilities (i.e., an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and more recently magnetometer and barometer) which can be found in wearable ambulatory monitors (WAMs). As a result, algorithms initially developed for WAMs that “count” steps (i.e., pedometers); gauge physical activity levels; indirectly estimate energy expenditure and monitor human movement can be utilised on the smartphone. These algorithms may enable clinicians to “close the loop” by prescribing timely interventions to improve or maintain wellbeing in populations who are at risk of falling or suffer from a chronic disease whose progression is linked to a reduction in movement and mobility. The ubiquitous nature of smartphone technology makes it the ideal platform from which human movement can be remotely monitored without the expense of purchasing, and inconvenience of using, a dedicated WAM. In this paper, an overview of the sensors that can be found in the smartphone are presented, followed by a summary of the developments in this field with an emphasis on the evolution of algorithms used to classify human movement. The limitations identified in the literature will be discussed, as well as suggestions about future research directions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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Other

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149 KiB  
Correction
Correction: Farina, G.L., et al. A Smartphone Application for Personal Assessments of Body Composition and Phenotyping. Sensors 2016, 16, 2163
by Gian Luca Farina, Fabrizio Spataro, Antonino De Lorenzo and Henry C. Lukaski
Sensors 2017, 17(3), 434; https://doi.org/10.3390/s17030434 - 23 Feb 2017
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3333
Abstract
The authors wish to make the following corrections to Table 1 of their paper [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smartphone-Based Sensors for Non-Invasive Physiological Monitoring)
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