Will next-generation wearable sensors make us healthier?
There is certainly no shortage of headlines on wearable sensors these days. "A contact lens measures your glucose level." "New electronic tattoos could help monitor health during normal daily activities." A "headband can read your brainwaves." Numerous wearable sensors are currently on the market that can monitor body data including activity and sleep, heart rate, galvanic skin response, and electrocardiogram (ECG). But are these wearables making any difference? Are they actually making us healthier?
The answer is not clear yet. And the challenges are plenty.
Working against wearables
First, there is the quick abandonment issue. A recent study conducted by Endeavor Partners found that one-third of American customers stopped using their wearable activity trackers after just six months. Some attribute this problem to the fact that every so often the user needs to take off and recharge the device. Every time you remove a wearable sensor, it's an opportunity to forget to put it back on again.
Others believe current wearables get cast aside because they don't possess the magic ability to change human behaviors. Don't we all know that regular exercise, eating healthy food and sleeping well are good for our health? Wearing a wristband alone will not make us do such things. Unless wearables can provide additional actionable incentives or insights that lead to long-term behavior change, their impact is rather limited. The million-dollar question is: what will such actionable incentives for users look like?
It's also not clear what's the best format for wearable sensors. The majority of wearables in the market today are wristbands or watches. However, it's very difficult to get reproducible clinical-quality data from the wrist, as Apple discovered when developing its upcoming Apple Watch.
According to the Wall Street Journal, after a long and costly development process, Apple had to abandon some of the health monitoring functions, such as ECG and skin conductivity sensors, because "these features didn't perform consistently on some people, including those with hairy arms or dry skin. Results also varied depending on how tightly the person wore the Watch." If Apple cannot pull it off, it is certainly a challenging task.
- TAMS SEMICONDUCTOR LIMITED
The answer is not clear yet. And the challenges are plenty.
Working against wearables
First, there is the quick abandonment issue. A recent study conducted by Endeavor Partners found that one-third of American customers stopped using their wearable activity trackers after just six months. Some attribute this problem to the fact that every so often the user needs to take off and recharge the device. Every time you remove a wearable sensor, it's an opportunity to forget to put it back on again.
Others believe current wearables get cast aside because they don't possess the magic ability to change human behaviors. Don't we all know that regular exercise, eating healthy food and sleeping well are good for our health? Wearing a wristband alone will not make us do such things. Unless wearables can provide additional actionable incentives or insights that lead to long-term behavior change, their impact is rather limited. The million-dollar question is: what will such actionable incentives for users look like?
It's also not clear what's the best format for wearable sensors. The majority of wearables in the market today are wristbands or watches. However, it's very difficult to get reproducible clinical-quality data from the wrist, as Apple discovered when developing its upcoming Apple Watch.
According to the Wall Street Journal, after a long and costly development process, Apple had to abandon some of the health monitoring functions, such as ECG and skin conductivity sensors, because "these features didn't perform consistently on some people, including those with hairy arms or dry skin. Results also varied depending on how tightly the person wore the Watch." If Apple cannot pull it off, it is certainly a challenging task.
- TAMS SEMICONDUCTOR LIMITED