A Review of Wearable Solutions for Physiological and Emotional Monitoring for Use by People with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Their Caregivers

Abstract

The goal of real-time feedback on physiological changes, stress monitoring and even emotion detection is becoming a technological reality. People in their daily life experience varying emotional states, some of which are negative and which can lead to decreased attention, decreased productivity and ultimately, reduced quality of life. Therefore, having a solution that continuously monitors the physiological signals of the person and assesses his or her emotional well-being could be a very valuable tool. This paper aims to review existing physiological and motional monitoring devices, highlight their features and compare their sensing capabilities. Such technology would be particularly useful for certain populations who experience rapidly changing emotional states such as people with autism spectrum disorder and people with intellectual disabilities. Wearable sensing devices present a potential solution that can support and complement existing behavioral interventions. This paper presents a review of existing and emerging products in the market. It reviews the literature on state-of-the-art prototypes and analyzes their usefulness, clinical validity, and discusses clinical perspectives. A small number of products offer reliable physiological internal state monitoring and may be suitable for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is likely that more promising solutions will be available in the near future. Therefore, caregivers should be careful in their selection of devices that meet the care-receiver’s personal needs and have strong research support for reliability and validity.

Empowering Children with ASD and Their Parents: Design of a Serious Game for Anxiety and Stress Reduction

“…However, incorporating non-intrusive wearables, such as a smartwatch, could be an added value for both applications, as it could provide a more objective and accurate analysis of the anxiety and stress of the child. Taj-Eldin et al [77] and Torrado et al [78] give an overview of existing wearables and feasibility for physiological and emotional monitoring for people with ASD. Incorporating the physiological data in the SpaceControl app could provide the parents and therapists with a more understandable and objective overview of the child's anxiety and stress in relation to the game data.…”

Quantified Self-Using Consumer Wearable Device: Predicting Physical and Mental Health

“…To identify the current trends in wearable device research, 9 of the latest review papers that were published no earlier than January 1, 2018 were selected as the basis of the whole review process. Three of them comprehensively assessed wearable device technology intervention for general physical activities [5][6][7], while the other six papers covered more specific topics, such as sports [8], work environments [9], disease-specific cases [10,11], accuracy [12], and machine learning implementation [13], as seen in Table 1. Based on this initial review, 16 studies were further assessed.…”

Quantifying the Effects of Temperature and Noise on Attention-Level Using EDA and EEG Sensors

“…In addition to an EDA, iCalm [26] also includes a photoplethysmograph (PPG) for the heart rate, 3-axis accelerometer for movements, and an optical infrared thermometer for detecting the skin temperature. One study has tested iCalm for continuous data collection on 7 participants within 48 hours, the results shows that iCalm can run continuously for long periods of time and has similar performance to a clinician standard device [28]. In the electronic device market, Empatica E4 uses the cloud to store user's data from four sensors i.e.…”

“…It should be noted that EDA cannot determine emotion factors and the EDA sensors need physical contact with the body, which may cause danger during aggressive behaviors. In [28], extensive numbers of wearable solutions for physiological and emotional monitoring for ASD is reviewed.…”