RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Thermal sensors improve wrist-worn position tracking
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 552174
DO 10.1101/552174
A1 Jake J. Son
A1 Jon C. Clucas
A1 Curt White
A1 Anirudh Krishnakumar
A1 Joshua T. Vogelstein
A1 Michael P. Milham
A1 Arno Klein
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/02/28/552174.abstract
AB Wearable devices provide a means of tracking hand position in relation to the head, but have mostly relied on wrist-worn inertial measurement unit sensors and proximity sensors, which are inadequate for identifying specific locations. This limits their utility for accurate and precise monitoring of behaviors or providing feedback to guide behaviors. A potential clinical application is monitoring body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs), recurrent, injurious behaviors directed toward the body, such as nail biting and hair pulling, that are often misdiagnosed and undertreated. Here, we demonstrate that including thermal sensors achieves higher accuracy in position tracking when compared against inertial measurement unit and proximity sensor data alone. Our Tingle device distinguished between behaviors from six locations on the head across 39 adult participants, with high AUROC values (best was back of the head: median (1.0), median absolute deviation (0.0); worst was on the cheek: median (0.93), median absolute deviation (0.09)). This study presents preliminary evidence of the advantage of including thermal sensors for position tracking and the Tingle wearable device’s potential use in a wide variety of settings, including BFRB diagnosis and management.