Abstract
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, which 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.
Highlights
Accurate monitoring of hand position with respect to the head has many potential applications, ranging from extended reality and computer gaming to monitoring certain clinical conditions.Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) represent a class of potentially useful clinical applications
body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) are associated with a broad range of mental and neurological illnesses,[1,2] where individuals unintentionally cause physical selfharm through repeated behaviors directed toward the body
To approximate ecological BFRB monitoring, conventional methods of position tracking rely on proximity- and inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor-based measures to identify the position of part of a person’s body relative to another part of the person
Summary
Accurate monitoring of hand position with respect to the head has many potential applications, ranging from extended reality and computer gaming to monitoring certain clinical conditions.Body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) represent a class of potentially useful clinical applications. Common BFRBs include hair pulling, skin picking, and nail biting, and are often misdiagnosed and undertreated.[3] These symptoms affect at least 5% of the population, and as many as 70% of those with one BRFB will have another co-occurring BRFB.[4]. To approximate ecological BFRB monitoring, conventional methods of position tracking rely on proximity- and inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor-based measures to identify the position of part of a person’s body (such as a hand) relative to another part of the person (such as the head). The Keen device, a wearable-based tracking method created by HabitAware,[7] is one such attempt to monitor BFRBs. The Pavlok,[8] a wrist-worn device that modifies behavior based on user-induced shocks and feedback, has been used for BFRB treatment, though it is not designed to do so. Sensitivity to body movement and user discomfort has made a two-device approach impractical
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