Wearables Suck: BioBeats Makes Significant Breakthrough to Improve Data from Wearables to Offer You the Most Accurate Stress Data
Heart Rate Variability = Better Data; Better Insight; Better
Intervention
LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#AI—BioBeats,
the leader in digital health and artificial intelligence, announces
significant improvement to its ability to measure stress and provide you
with even better insight and interventions. Unique to the market,
BioBeats now uses Heart Rate Variability measurements (HRV) to
provide users with accurate stress insights including emotional arousal,
elevated levels of anxiety, congestive heart failure and diabetes.
Even with the recent growth in appreciation from consumers understanding
the value of heart rate variability and the need to measure it for
overall wellness management, it is still very difficult to accurate
access data especially from the leading wearables.
David Plans, CEO of BioBeats, commented: “Heart Rate Variability
(HRV) is a key measurement for anyone looking to improve their wellbeing
and receive indicators of the onset of future health issues including
diabetes, burnout, cardiovascular disease, obesity, anxiety etc.
“It has taken us a long time to get our algorithms right and on top
of that we have had to overcome issues of noise from the wearables to be
able to provide our users with results they can trust. There is
currently no wristband tracker in the market that can accurately measure
HRV. However, stress is the missing part of the puzzle for anyone
looking to improve their health and it’s too big a deal to get wrong. We
had to get a grip on this and quickly. Measuring your sleep, steps and
calories is the easy part!”
BioBeats uses HRV, the variation of the time interval between
heartbeats, to more accurately understand and monitor user’s’ health and
well-being patterns. The typical method of HRV measurement is ECG but
BioBeats uses non-invasive PPG (photoplethysmograph)
taken from wearable technology or via smartphones to provide just as
reliable results.
Davide Morelli, Co-founder of BioBeats, continues: “The use of PPG
instead of ECG for HRV analysis is still not extensively explored,
especially PPG from consumer grade wearable devices or smartphones. HRV
analysis from PPG is shown to be reliable, as most HRV features show a
very high correlation with the same features extracted from ECG, in
stationary condition but this is not adequate for us or our users when
they want to be able to move around and see their stress during a day.
Cutting the noise from the data to be able to monitor stress at any
time, no matter what our user is doing is a massive step forward. We
have shown that PPG data acquired from a consumer grade wrist worn
wearable device are highly susceptible to motion artefacts but that it
can be managed to provide the accuracy our users expect from us.”
The biggest problem with HRV taken from PPG sensors commonly found in
consumer wearables is that the noise level (a disruption in the signal
captured from the sensor, even gentle movement of the wrist disturbs the
signal) is a problem. When running the signal becomes almost entirely
noise and the heartbeat not visible. This is a big problem in terms of
the lost opportunity to create applications that look at wellbeing from
more than a fitness and general health perspective. BioBeats has solved
this problem.
Davide Morelli, Co-founder of BioBeats, concluded: “The wearables
industry is just waking up. By now, the idea that we should be measuring
HRV is well understood and most wearable companies are looking to move
into health rather than wellbeing applications. Soon, companies like
MC10 and others will give us on-skin and intradermal sensors that link
to our smartphones that will make the above problem go away for
good. However, in the meantime, we will continue to push our technology
boundaries to provide actionable insights for our loyal users.”
BioBeats recently completed a landmark study with BNP Paribas to provide
key insights and personalised interventions to manage stress more
effectively for 560 employees. From the study BioBeats has strengthened
its ability to deal with complex data and to provide the most accurate
non-invasive measurement of stress in the market today.
Participants wore a Microsoft Band 2 that was able to take various
biometric measurements and data continuously throughout the day. Over
60G of data was gathered and analysed in BioBeats’ unique artificial
intelligence engine.
BioBeats also offers a consumer-facing app Hear and Now, celebrated as
“Mindfulness meets the Sciences”, which allows users to instantly
discover their stress triggers, as well as guiding the user through
customised breathing exercises. Critically, users are able to learn
pertinent health information about themselves through mind and body
stress tests. The Hear and Now app is available to download globally and
is free from the iTunes App store.
Tweet this! Wearables Suck! Why work @joinBioBeats involves
testing lots of wearable devices to gather accurate data on stress http://bit.ly/2eaxY2P
Supporting Resources
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About BioBeats
BioBeats is a digital health and artificial intelligence company that
specialises in creating easy-to-use corporate and personal wellness
solutions. Its world-class team of scientists and designers includes
renowned experts in AI, machine learning, wearables, cloud solutions and
theoretical computer science. BioBeats solutions, based on years of
research, provide insights into individual health and wellbeing by
tracking data from wearable and smartphone sensors. Biometric and
psychometric feedback is combined with unique machine learning
algorithms to deliver personalised stress and productivity management
tools based on clinically proven coaching techniques.
Following the launch of its consumer-facing app Hear and Now (recently
featured in Apple App Store’s Best New Apps, April 2016), the team now
provides tools to foster wellness at scale, with bespoke corporate
versions in active deployment. The company’ s corporate offering
provides solutions to help employees privately control their own
wellness through the use of wearables and data-driven coaching.
Contacts
PR at BioBeats
Travis at BioBeats
Email: PR@biobeats.com
Telephone:
07867488769
