The market for wearable sensors has long been ruled by one caveat: If it isn't stylish, it won't be worn. A new device can capture all the biometric data needed to improve one's health, but unless it looks good and serves a practical purpose, it stands as much chance for success as a fleece bathing suit.
A California entrepreneur might have solved that dilemma with a customized headset that can measure breathing, heart rate and other biometric data while its user is listening to music.
The Breath Acoustics All-in-One (A-i-O) Headset, designed by BreathResearch, is currently competing in the Philips Next Big Thing Innovation Fellows Challenge on the Indiegogo crowdfunding site. Its creator, who has spent more than eight years refining the technology, sees the A-i-O headset as the ideal combination of fashion and mHealth, enabling users to listen to music while having vital biometric data recorded and analyzed for health and wellness.
"This is going to open up so much in the consumer health and fitness market," says Nirinjan Yee, founder and CEO of the Walnut Creek, Calif.-based startup, which made its first mark in 2010 with the MyBreath app. "Breath is one of our vital signs, but so little is known about it … and yet a lot can be done with it."
According to Yee, BreathResearch sensor technology records a user's respiration and converts it to a breathing index (BRI Score) based on seven facets of the breathing pattern. At the same time, acoustic and optic sensors in the headset measure heart rate, pulse oximetry, altitude, location and barometric pressure data. That data is fed into the My Breath Lite app and analyzed to determine optimal levels of relaxation as well as metabolic threshholds that can be used in fitness, sports training, even clinical uses.
“My goal was to design something that looks good, feels good and at the same time provides important feedback and data for health and fitness,” Yee said in a press release announcing the company's participation in the Philips challenge. “We’re confident that once fully funded, the Breath Acoustic A-i-O headset and platform will offer many options for research and treatment in mind-body medicine, enhanced athletic performance, sleep and home cardiopulmonary care.”
Yee said the headset is first being marketed in the health and wellness field. The MyBreath app is offered on Aetna's CarePass health management platform, and the company is working with Heart Zones USA to market the unit as something that can alleviate stress, improve athletic performance, achieve weight loss goals and improve sleep patterns.
“All of us do better when we have the power of biofeedback devices like the A-i-O headset to see our health and fitness changes and improvements,” said Sally Edwards, MA, MBA, Heart Zones' founder and CEO, in the press release.
Farther down the road, Lee sees the A-i-O headset making headway in clinical healthcare. She notes that companies like Masimo and iSonea are marketing similar types of breath-sensing technology, though they focus on specific aspects of breathing – like, in iSonea's case, wheezing – while BreathSense targets the entire breathing cycle. Such technology could be used to study and monitor a wide range of respiratory conditions, as well as monitoring lung transplant patients for rejection.
"It's surprising how much information there is in our breathing sounds," she said. "This could open up so much in medicine."
BreathSense has already raised more than $10,000 through crowdfunding efforts helped by Health Tech Hatch. In the Philips Next Big Thing Innovation Fellows Challenge, the company is angling for a $100,000 prize. Supporters can contribute to the campaign through October 29.
