Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) developed the thermal earring. A new kind that they say performs better than smart watches in measuring the temperature of the wearer's skin during periods of rest.
The earring has also shown promise for monitoring stress points. Also diet, exercise and ovulation, according to a statement.
The UW's smart earring prototype is currently not commercially available. It is about the size and weight of a small paper clip and has a 28-day battery life. A magnetic clip attaches a temperature sensor to the wearer's ear. While a second sensor hangs below and assesses the room temperature. The second sensor can include fashionable resin or gemstone designs without adversely affecting its accuracy.
The earring contains a Bluetooth chip, a battery, two temperature sensors and an antenna. After reading and sending a person's temperature, it goes into full sleep mode to save energy.
«I wear a smart watch to monitor my personal health. But I have found that many people think smart watches are not fashionable or are bulky and uncomfortable.» As Qiuyue (Shirley) Xue, a UW doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, said in a statement.
«I also like to wear earrings. So we started thinking about what unique things we can get from the earlobe.» Added Xue, who co-authored a study on the thermal earring published earlier this year in a technology journal.
«We found that sensing skin temperature on the lobe, rather than the hand or wrist, was much more accurate.
It also gave us the ability to have part of the sensor hanging. So we could separate the ambient temperature from the skin temperature.».
Xue's announcement states that «current wearables, such as the Apple Watch and Fitbit, have temperature sensors. But yet they only provide an average temperature for the day. And their temperature measurements from their wrists and hands are too noisy for monitoring ovulation.”.
Eventually, Xue said she hoped to develop a complete set of jewelry for health monitoring. «The earrings will track activity and health metrics such as temperature and heart rate,» he explained. «While a necklace could serve as an electrocardiogram monitor for more effective heart health data.
Source: jckonline.com
