The health and privacy of patients suffering from a variety of illnesses, such as Epilepsy and Parkinson’s, is just as crucial while they are asleep as when they are awake. Unfortunately, because patients are not aware of themselves while asleep, it is difficult for them and for their caregivers to ensure that that are sleeping in a way that is optimal for their health. Shichao Yue, a Ph.D. candidate under Professor Dina Katabi at MIT, has decided to address this issue by developing a groundbreaking way to monitor people while they sleep, without wires or cameras, and while ensuring their privacy is maintained.
Many people are curious about their tendencies while asleep, but for someone with a neurological condition a tracking device like BodyCompass could be a life or death matter. Patients with epilepsy, for example, are far more likely to die suddenly if they sleep on their stomachs. BodyCompass could potentially be combined with an alert system so that these patients or their caregivers could be alerted if they turn to their stomach while asleep. Additionally, BodyCompass could be a useful tool for someone who is simply not sleeping well or would like to learn more about how to improve their sleeping habits.
BodyCompass is the first device of its kind that can easily be used at home and it uses radio-based frequency to seamlessly track the movement and position of patients as they sleep. Unlike its predecessors which are either uncomfortable or require the patient to be on camera as they sleep, Yue’s new device is designed to track the patient’s movement and posture from its location on a nearby wall. For many people who would benefit from sleep monitoring, tracking devices' cumbersome nature and potential breach of privacy are enough to discourage them, but BodyCompass manages to successfully overcome many of these traditional barriers.
Rather than directly monitoring or filming the sleeping body, BodyCompass analyzes radio signals that are reflected by all the objects in a bedroom, including the person. By collecting and analyzing all the information provided by these signals, BodyCompass is able to detect the body’s movements and position. In order to successfully determine which signals are related to the body, the researchers identified that radio frequencies bouncing off a person’s chest have a unique breathing signal and this can be used to differentiate them from other signals. This information is then converted to data that can be analyzed to determine the angle and position of the body at rest.
In addition to the benefits it provides in terms of ease, comfort, and privacy, MIT’s new sleep monitoring device also outshines its competitors when it comes to accuracy. In a study that tested more than 200 hours of sleep data from BodyCompass and other sleep trackers, BodyCompass was the most accurate. Although it has yet to be released to market, BodyCompass holds a lot of promise and appears poised to be extremely useful to patients who would benefit immensely from tracking their sleep patterns and having the ability to adjust accordingly. In the age of COVID-19 this new device, and its ability to be used at home, while maintaining privacy, could be all the more valuable.
Source: MIT News
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