The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to increase self-awareness, promote health literacy, improve patient-physician communication, and reduce the cost of healthcare. The annual individual and societal costs of sleep loss and sleep disorders are estimated to be in billions of dollars in both direct and indirect costs related to co-morbid medical conditions, hospitalization, accidents, and productivity loss. Wearable, wireless systems are said to be a revolutionary technology for health and wellness management. While this likely exaggerates their impact, we believe that the application of these technologies to specific groups, such as children with ADHD or autism spectrum disorder, will help those individuals and their families address a critical problem in their lives. By extension, one can foresee applications of the technologies to help the elderly and people with depression, schizophrenia, addiction and other mental and physical disorders.
The proposed project addresses the need for safe, effective measures for assessing and understanding sleep in the home and promoting sleep literacy among consumers. We propose to provide technology, systems, and support for user-centered sleep healthcare. The first component will focus on Data acquisition (DAQ) using low cost, unobtrusive wearable sensor technology to monitor activity, sound (snoring and speech), heart rate (heart rate variability), respiration rate, pulse transit time, temperature, etc. over 24 hour periods or longer. The DAQ methods will employ mobile technology to support their use at home. The second component will incorporate signal processing and feature extraction tools that employ nonlinear, complex systems analysis to harvest clinically relevant sleep quality, quantity, and health information from variables such as sleep stage transitions and heart rate variability. In addition, development of neurocognitive tests, including reaction time tests similar to psychomotor vigilance tests (PVT), will evaluate the impact of sleep quality and quantity on cognitive performance. These devices and tools will be designed for use by consumers (and clinicians) to assess the effectiveness of treatment systems such as Cognitive Behavior Therapies (CBT) intended to improve sleep
During this Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research project, we developed wearable sleep recorder technology to collect the physiological signals needed to assess the sleep architecture of indivuduals during the night. We developed signal processing and feature extractions algorithms, leading to the presentation of the sleep architecture in a compelling and simple format. We developed an automatic sleep scoring algorithm that functioned as well as the methods used by professional technicians when compared across publically available databases. We also developed a sleep score to provide a high level summary of the quality of a subject’s sleep experience. We developed the mobile application to collect the data from the Sleep Data Recorder (Bluetooth or download) and to present the data to a user in an intuitive, appealing interface. We have worked closely with clinicians and families of children with developmental disorders to develop clinically relevant technology that is simple to use and outcomes focused. Awarables, Inc. is driven by the belief that a better and healthier life can be attained through knowledge and awareness of our bodies. To this aim, we are developing sophisticated products that effectively and comprehensively assess one of the body’s most fundamental physiologic processes, sleep. By providing accurate clinically validated sleep and performance metrics, users can choose behavioral interventions and monitor their progress as they make improvements in their lifestyles and overall health. Key factors to the success of our wearable products include comfort, low cost, and clinically valid measurements. The algorithms and signal processing techniques that we employ capture the state of the art in complexity science applied to human sleep. Yet the results are presented in simple, easy to understand sleep signatures that can guide a person in improving their sleep habits and quality. Wearable, wireless systems are said to be a "revolutionary" technology for health and wellness management. We believe that the application of these technologies to specific groups, such as children with ADHD or autism spectrum disorder, will help those individuals and their families address a critical problem in their lives.
