ABR: Collaborative research: Smart earpiece for supporting healthy eating behaviors

肥胖是我国面临的最紧迫的健康挑战之一，也是移动卫生界关注的目标。虽然肥胖的科学表明饮食是健康体重管理的一个主要因素，但科学家仍然无法有效、快速和轻松地测量饮食行为。该项目的目标是开发一种足够舒适的数字耳机，可以(在耳朵上或耳朵附近)佩戴，可以感知和检测进食行为。该项目的长期愿景是使健康研究人员能够更好地了解与饮食相关的行为，并随后支持开发促进健康饮食和行为的有效干预措施。最终，更好地了解与饮食相关的行为，并更好地设计有效的饮食行为干预措施，将对个人和公共健康以及国民经济产生深远影响。该项目的硬件和软件原型将在研究社区广泛共享，以便围绕耳机设备中可能的传感和交互机会进行实验。此外，该项目直接让本科生和研究生参与跨学科研究，并扩展到中学生，扩大了在这一重要新兴课题上接受教育的科学家的供应。该项目将建立一个无线耳机原型，配备低功率(微瓦级)电子设备和软件，足以让电池持续一整天的清醒；开发高效的算法来检测和区分与健康相关的行为；并为佩戴者开发简单有效的方法来与耳机及其应用进行互动。该团队希望回答对实现上述目标至关重要的科学问题。具体地说，他们寻求通过设计和开发能够感知行为并与佩戴者互动的无线耳机来促进科学知识；开发新的低功耗模拟电子学和分布式软件算法，用于从传感器数据推断相关行为；开发耳机和佩戴者之间的新型骨传导音频交互模式，并通过耳机、皮肤或辅助设备(如腕带或智能手机)上的触觉接口进行补充；并通过用户研究和实验室内外的实验来验证这些方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Obesity is one of the most pressing health challenges faced by our country, and has been the target of much attention in the mobile health (mHealth) community. While the science of obesity indicates that diet is a major factor in healthy weight management, scientists are still not able to effectively, quickly and easily measure eating behavior. This project's goal is to develop a digital earpiece comfortable enough to wear (on or near the ear) that can sense and detect eating behavior. The project's long-term vision is to enable health researchers to better understand eating-related behaviors and, subsequently, to support the development of effective interventions that promote healthy diet and behavior.Ultimately, a better understanding of eating-related behaviors, and better design of effective interventions regarding eating behavior, will have profound impact on personal and public health as well as the national economy. The project's hardware and software prototypes will be shared widely in the research community to enable experimentation around the sensing and interaction opportunities possible in an earpiece device. Furthermore, the project directly involves undergraduate and graduate students in interdisciplinary research, and outreach to middle-school students, expanding the supply of scientists educated in this important emerging topic.The project will build a prototype wireless earpiece, with low-power (microwatt-scale) electronics and software sufficient to allow for the battery to last a full waking day; to develop efficient algorithms for detecting and distinguishing health-related behaviors; and to develop easy and effective means for the wearer to interact with the earpiece and its applications.The team expects to answer scientific questions important to achieving the above goals. Specifically, they seek to advance scientific knowledge through the design and development of a wireless earpiece capable of sensing behavior and interacting with its wearer; develop novel low-power analog electronics and distributed software algorithms for inferring relevant behaviors from sensor data; develop novel interaction modalities involving bone-conduction audio between the earpiece and its wearer, complemented by tactile interfaces on the earpiece, on the skin, or on auxiliary devices like a wristband or smartphone; and validate these approaches through user studies and experiments inside and outside the lab.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.