Wide‐bandwidth nanocomposite‐sensor integrated smart mask for tracking multiphase respiratory activities

Suo, J. et al. (2022) Wide‐bandwidth nanocomposite‐sensor integrated smart mask for tracking multiphase respiratory activities. Advanced Science, 9(31), 2203565. (doi: 10.1002/advs.202203565) (PMID:35999427)

Abstract

Wearing masks has been a recommended protective measure due to the risks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) even in its coming endemic phase. Therefore, deploying a “smart mask” to monitor human physiological signals is highly beneficial for personal and public health. This work presents a smart mask integrating an ultrathin nanocomposite sponge structure-based soundwave sensor (≈400 µm), which allows the high sensitivity in a wide-bandwidth dynamic pressure range, i.e., capable of detecting various respiratory sounds of breathing, speaking, and coughing. Thirty-one subjects test the smart mask in recording their respiratory activities. Machine/deep learning methods, i.e., support vector machine and convolutional neural networks, are used to recognize these activities, which show average macro-recalls of ≈95% in both individual and generalized models. With rich high-frequency (≈4000 Hz) information recorded, the two-/tri-phase coughs can be mapped while speaking words can be identified, demonstrating that the smart mask can be applicable as a daily wearable Internet of Things (IoT) device for respiratory disease identification, voice interaction tool, etc. in the future. This work bridges the technological gap between ultra-lightweight but high-frequency response sensor material fabrication, signal transduction and processing, and machining/deep learning to demonstrate a wearable device for potential applications in continual health monitoring in daily life.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the Shenzhen Municipality Science and Technology Innovation Commission (Grant No. SGDX2019081623121725), Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Project No. 11204918 and 11216120), and Hong Kong Centre for Cerebro-cardiovascular Health Engineering (COCHE).
• Keywords: Research Article, Research Articles, Covid‐19, high‐frequency pressure sensors, respiratory sounds recognition, smart masks, sponge structure sensors
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Vellaisamy, Professor Roy
• Authors: Suo, J., Liu, Y., Wu, C., Chen, M., Huang, Q., Liu, Y., Yao, K., Chen, Y., Pan, Q., Chang, X., Leung, A. Y. L., Chan, H.‐y., Zhang, G., Yang, Z., Daoud, W., Li, X., Roy, V. A. L., Shen, J., Yu, X., Wang, J., and Li, W. J.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Advanced Science
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 2198-3844
• ISSN (Online): 2198-3844
• Published Online: 23 August 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Advanced Science 9(31): 2203565
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence