Żyliński, M.; Nassibi, A.; Occhipinti, E.; Malik, A.; Bermond, M.; Davies, H.J.; Mandic, D.P. Hearables: In-Ear Multimodal Data Fusion for Robust Heart Rate Estimation. BioMedInformatics2024, 4, 911-920.
Żyliński, M.; Nassibi, A.; Occhipinti, E.; Malik, A.; Bermond, M.; Davies, H.J.; Mandic, D.P. Hearables: In-Ear Multimodal Data Fusion for Robust Heart Rate Estimation. BioMedInformatics 2024, 4, 911-920.
Żyliński, M.; Nassibi, A.; Occhipinti, E.; Malik, A.; Bermond, M.; Davies, H.J.; Mandic, D.P. Hearables: In-Ear Multimodal Data Fusion for Robust Heart Rate Estimation. BioMedInformatics2024, 4, 911-920.
Żyliński, M.; Nassibi, A.; Occhipinti, E.; Malik, A.; Bermond, M.; Davies, H.J.; Mandic, D.P. Hearables: In-Ear Multimodal Data Fusion for Robust Heart Rate Estimation. BioMedInformatics 2024, 4, 911-920.
Abstract
Ambulatory heart rate (HR) monitors that acquire electrocardiogram (ECG) or/and photoplethysmographm (PPG) signals from the torso, wrists, or ears are notably less accurate in tasks associated with high levels of movement compared to clinical measurements. However, reliable estimation of HR can be obtained through data fusion from different sensors. These methods are especially suitable for multimodal hearable devices, where heart rate can be tracked from different modalities, including electrical ECG, optical PPG, and sounds (heart tones). Combined information from different modalities can compensate for single source limitations. In this paper, we evaluate the possible application of data fusion methods in hearables. We assess data fusion for heart rate estimation from simultaneous in-ear ECG and in-ear PPG, recorded on eight subjects while performing 5-minute sitting and walking tasks. Our findings show that data fusion methods provide a similar level of mean absolute error as the best single-source heart rate estimation but with much lower intra-subject variability, especially during walking activities. We conclude that data fusion methods provide more robust HR estimation than a single cardiovascular signal. These methods can enhance the performance of wearable devices, especially multimodal hearables, in heart rate tracking during physical activity.
Keywords
Data fusion method; Heart rate tracing; Hearables; Wearables
Subject
Engineering, Bioengineering
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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