Skin-Like Wearable Sensor Helps ALS Patients Communicate

Medical Design Briefs INSIDER

All of the components in the sensor device are easy to mass-produce, so the researchers estimate that each device would cost around $10. (Credit: David Sadat/MIT)

A stretchable, skin-like device can be attached to a patient’s face and can measure small movements such as a twitch or a smile. Using this approach, patients could communicate a variety of sentiments, such as “I love you” or “I’m hungry,” with small movements that are measured and interpreted by the device.

The researchers hope that their new device would allow patients to communicate in a more natural way, without having to deal with bulky equipment. The wearable sensor is thin and can be camouflaged with makeup to match any skin tone, making it unobtrusive.

The device consists of four piezoelectric sensors embedded in a thin silicone film. The sensors, which are made of aluminum nitride, can detect mechanical deformation of the skin and convert it into an electric voltage that can be easily measured. All of these components are easy to mass-produce, so the researchers estimate that each device would cost around $10.

The researchers used a process called digital imaging correlation on healthy volunteers to help them select the most useful locations to place the sensor. They painted a random black-and-white speckle pattern on the face and then took many images of the area with multiple cameras as the subjects performed facial motions such as smiling, twitching the cheek, or mouthing the shape of certain letters. The images were processed by software that analyzes how the small dots move in relation to each other, to determine the amount of strain experienced in a single area.

The researchers also used the measurements of skin deformations to train a machine-learning algorithm to distinguish between a smile, open mouth, and pursed lips. Using this algorithm, they tested the devices with two ALS patients, and were able to achieve about 75 percent accuracy in distinguishing between these different movements. The accuracy rate in healthy subjects was 87 percent.

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