scholarly journals Speech Discrimination in Real-World Group Communication Using Audio-Motion Multimodal Sensing

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 2948
Author(s):  
Takayuki Nozawa ◽  
Mizuki Uchiyama ◽  
Keigo Honda ◽  
Tamio Nakano ◽  
Yoshihiro Miyake
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Real World ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Speech Discrimination ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Motion Data ◽  
Physical Motion ◽  
Multimodal Sensing ◽  
Average Accuracy ◽  
Combined Classifier

Speech discrimination that determines whether a participant is speaking at a given moment is essential in investigating human verbal communication. Specifically, in dynamic real-world situations where multiple people participate in, and form, groups in the same space, simultaneous speakers render speech discrimination that is solely based on audio sensing difficult. In this study, we focused on physical activity during speech, and hypothesized that combining audio and physical motion data acquired by wearable sensors can improve speech discrimination. Thus, utterance and physical activity data of students in a university participatory class were recorded, using smartphones worn around their neck. First, we tested the temporal relationship between manually identified utterances and physical motions and confirmed that physical activities in wide-frequency ranges co-occurred with utterances. Second, we trained and tested classifiers for each participant and found a higher performance with the audio-motion classifier (average accuracy 92.2%) than both the audio-only (80.4%) and motion-only (87.8%) classifiers. Finally, we tested inter-individual classification and obtained a higher performance with the audio-motion combined classifier (83.2%) than the audio-only (67.7%) and motion-only (71.9%) classifiers. These results show that audio-motion multimodal sensing using widely available smartphones can provide effective utterance discrimination in dynamic group communications.

scholarly journals Utility of wearable physical activity monitors in cardiovascular disease: a systematic review of 11,464 patients and recommendations for optimal use

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Hammond-Haley ◽  
Christopher Allen ◽  
Jennie Han ◽  
Tiffany Patterson ◽  
Michael Marber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Real World ◽  
Response To Therapy ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Cardiovascular Research ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Activity Monitors ◽  
Future Work

Abstract Background Physical activity (PA) plays an important role in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, functioning as a marker of disease progression and response to therapy. Real-world measurement of habitual PA is now possible through wearable activity monitors, however their use in cardiovascular patients is not well described. Methods We performed a systematic review to summarise how wearable activity monitors have been used to measure PA in patients with cardiovascular disease, with 11,464 patients included across 108 studies. Results Activity monitors were primarily used in the setting of cardiac rehabilitation (46, 43%). Most often, triaxial accelerometers (70, 65%) were instructed to be worn at the hip (58, 54%) for seven days (n = 54, 50%). Thirty-nine different activity monitors were used, with a range of accelerometer specific settings for collection and reporting of activity data. Activity was reported most commonly as time spent in MET-defined activity levels (49, 45%), while non-wear time was defined in just 16 (15%) studies. Conclusion The collecting, processing and reporting of accelerometer-related outcomes was highly heterogeneous. Most validation studies are limited to healthy young adults, while the paucity of methodological information disclosed renders interpretation of results and cross-study comparison challenging. While accelerometers are promising tools to measure real-world PA, we highlight current challenges facing their use in elderly multimorbid cardiology patients. We suggest recommendations to guide investigators using these devices in cardiovascular research. Future work is required to determine optimal methodology and consensus-based development of meaningful outcomes using raw acceleration data.

scholarly journals Use of wearable sensors to assess compliance of asthmatic children in response to lockdown measures for the COVID-19 epidemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panayiotis Kouis ◽  
Antonis Michanikou ◽  
Pinelopi Anagnostopoulou ◽  
Emmanouil Galanakis ◽  
Eleni Michaelidou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Level 1 ◽  
Level 2 ◽  
At Home

Abstract Between March and April 2020, Cyprus and Greece health authorities enforced three escalated levels of public health interventions to control the COVID-19 pandemic. We quantified compliance of asthmatic schoolchildren from both countries to intervention levels, using wearable sensors to continuously track personal location and physical activity. Changes in ‘fraction time spent at home’ and ‘total steps/day’ were assessed with a mixed-effects model adjusting for confounders. We observed significant mean increases in ‘fraction time spent at home’ in Cyprus and Greece, during each intervention level by 41.4% and 14.3% (level 1), 48.7% and 23.1% (level 2) and 45.2% and 32.0% (level 3), respectively. Physical activity in Cyprus and Greece demonstrated significant mean decreases by -2,531 and -1,191 (level 1), -3,638 and -2,337 (level 2) and -3,644 and -1,961 (level 3) total steps/day, respectively. We also report significant independent effects of weekends and age on fraction time spent at home and weekends, age, humidity and gender on physical activity. We suggest that wearable technology provides objective, continuous, real-time location and activity data making possible to inform in a timely manner public health officials on compliance to various tiers of public health interventions during a pandemic.

scholarly journals An empirical example of analysis using a two-stage modeling approach: within-subject association of outdoor context and physical activity predicts future daily physical activity levels

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Hsiang Yang ◽  
Jaclyn P Maher ◽  
Aditya Ponnada ◽  
Eldin Dzubur ◽  
Rachel Nordgren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Vigorous Physical Activity ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Modeling Approach ◽  
Source Program ◽  
Modeling Strategy ◽  
Stage Modeling

Abstract People differ from each other to the extent to which momentary factors, such as context, mood, and cognitions, influence momentary health behaviors. However, statistical models to date are limited in their ability to test whether the association between two momentary variables (i.e., subject-level slopes) predicts a subject-level outcome. This study demonstrates a novel two-stage statistical modeling strategy that is capable of testing whether subject-level slopes between two momentary variables predict subject-level outcomes. An empirical case study application is presented to examine whether there are differences in momentary moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels between the outdoor and indoor context in adults and whether these momentary differences predict mean daily MVPA levels 6 months later. One hundred and eight adults from a multiwave longitudinal study provided 4 days of ecological momentary assessment (during baseline) and accelerometry data (both at baseline and 6 month follow-up). Multilevel data were analyzed using an open-source program (MixWILD) to test whether momentary strength between outdoor context and MVPA during baseline was associated with average daily MVPA levels measured 6 months later. During baseline, momentary MVPA levels were higher in outdoor contexts as compared to indoor contexts (b = 0.07, p < .001). Participants who had more momentary MVPA when outdoors (vs. indoors) during baseline (i.e., a greater subject-level slope) had higher daily MVPA at the 6 month follow-up (b = 0.09, p < .05). This empirical example shows that the subject-level momentary association between specific context (i.e., outdoors) and health behavior (i.e., physical activity) may contribute to overall engagement in that behavior in the future. The demonstrated two-stage modeling approach has extensive applications in behavioral medicine to analyze intensive longitudinal data collected from wearable sensors and mobile devices.

scholarly journals Reliability of activity monitors for physical activity assessment in patients with musculoskeletal disorders: A systematic review

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Francesco Negrini ◽  
Alessandro de Sire ◽  
Stefano Giuseppe Lazzarini ◽  
Federico Pennestrì ◽  
Salvatore Sorce ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Musculoskeletal Disorders ◽  
Wearable Sensors ◽  
Activity Monitors ◽  
Activity Assessment ◽  
Measurement Tools ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Measurement Units ◽  
Full Text Screening

BACKGROUND: Activity monitors have been introduced in the last years to objectively measure physical activity to help physicians in the management of musculoskeletal patients. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed at describing the assessment of physical activity by commercially available portable activity monitors in patients with musculoskeletal disorders. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, PEDro, Web of Science, Scopus and CENTRAL databases were systematically searched from inception to June 11th, 2020. We considered as eligible observational studies with: musculoskeletal patients; physical activity measured by wearable sensors based on inertial measurement units; comparisons performed with other tools; outcomes consisting of number of steps/day, activity/inactivity time, or activity counts/day. RESULTS: Out of 595 records, after removing duplicates, title/abstract and full text screening, 10 articles were included. We noticed a wide heterogeneity in the wearable devices, that resulted to be 10 different types. Patients included suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, and fibromyalgia. Only 3 studies compared portable activity trackers with objective measurement tools. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, this systematic review showed that activity monitors might be considered as useful to assess physical activity in patients with musculoskeletal disorders, albeit, to date, the high device heterogeneity and the different algorithms still prevent their standardization.

scholarly journals Lockdown, slow down: impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on physical activity—an observational study

Open Heart ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. e001600
Author(s):  
Joanne Kathryn Taylor ◽  
Haarith Ndiaye ◽  
Matthew Daniels ◽  
Fozia Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
New York ◽  
Heart Association ◽  
Evaluation Study ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Cardiac Devices ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
New York Heart Association ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Uk

AimsIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK was placed under strict lockdown measures on 23 March 2020. The aim of this study was to quantify the effects on physical activity (PA) levels using data from the prospective Triage-HF Plus Evaluation study.MethodsThis study represents a cohort of adult patients with implanted cardiac devices capable of measuring activity by embedded accelerometery via a remote monitoring platform. Activity data were available for the 4 weeks pre-implementation and post implementation of ‘stay at home’ lockdown measures in the form of ‘minutes active per day’ (min/day).ResultsData were analysed for 311 patients (77.2% men, mean age 68.8, frailty 55.9%. 92.2% established heart failure (HF) diagnosis, of these 51.2% New York Heart Association II), with comorbidities representative of a real-world cohort.Post-lockdown, a significant reduction in median PA equating to 20.8 active min/day was seen. The reduction was uniform with a slightly more pronounced drop in PA for women, but no statistically significant difference with respect to age, body mass index, frailty or device type. Activity dropped in the immediate 2-week period post-lockdown, but steadily returned thereafter. Median activity week 4 weeks post-lockdown remained significantly lower than 4 weeks pre-lockdown (p≤0.001).ConclusionsIn a population of predominantly HF patients with cardiac devices, activity reduced by approximately 20 min active per day in the immediate aftermath of strict COVID-19 lockdown measures.Trial registration numberNCT04177199.

scholarly journals A roadmap: Social distancing physical activity data collection to protect those with intellectual disabilities

2021 ◽  
pp. 174462952110096
Author(s):  
Whitley J Stone ◽  
Kayla M Baker
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Virus Transmission ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Physical Activity Data ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

The novel coronavirus may impact exercise habits of those with intellectual disabilities. Due to the mandated discontinuation of face-to-face research, investigators must adapt projects to protect all involved while collecting objective physical activity metrics. This brief report outlines a modification process of research methods to adhere to social distancing mandates present during COVID-19. Actions taken included electronic consent and assent forms, an electronic survey, and mailing an accelerometer with included instructions. The amended research methods were implemented without risk for virus transmission or undue burden on the research team, participant, or caregiver. Recruitment was likely impacted by the coronavirus-mediated quarantine, plausibly resulting in bias. Objective physical activity data collection can be sufficiently modified to protect those with intellectual disabilities and investigators. Future research designs may require greater participant incentives and the creation of in-home participation.

The Arkansas Active Kids Study: Identifying contributing factors to metabolic health and obesity status in prepubertal school-age children

2020 ◽  
pp. 026010602097557
Author(s):  
Shasha Bai ◽  
Anthony Goudie ◽  
Elisabet Børsheim ◽  
Judith L Weber
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Vital Signs ◽  
Statistical Analysis Plan ◽  
Metabolic Health ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
Obesity Status

Background: We report the design, protocol and statistical analysis plan for the Arkansas Active Kids (AAK) Study. The study investigates the complex relationships between factors that contribute to metabolic health and obesity status in prepubertal school-age children in the state of Arkansas. Aim: We aim to identify modifiable behavioral and environmental factors and phenotypes related to metabolic health that are associated with obesity status that, if addressed effectively, can aid in designing effective intervention strategies to improve fitness and reduce obesity in children. Methods: We analyzed dietary and physical activity data from two national surveys (National Survey of Children’s Health and Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System). We then conducted detailed surveys to collect dietary, physical activity, socio-demographic, and environmental data from a sample of 226 prepubertal Arkansas children. In the same sample of prepubertal children, we also collected extensive physiologic data to further study associations between physical activity and metabolic health. Results: All study visits included detailed measures of vital signs, energy expenditure, components of physical fitness, body composition and the collection of biological samples for determination of metabolic analytes. Conclusion: The observational, environmental and physiological results will be used to craft multivariate statistical models to identify which variables define ‘phenotype signatures’ that associate with fitness level and obesity status.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document