Anti-tobacco day — Next-gen technology to help you quit smoking

There are mobile apps and then there is wearable technology. A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University are combining the two develop a comprehensive solution to help smokers quit.

Two armband sensors detect smoking motions — a technology that’s demonstrated more than 98% accuracy compared to other systems — works in combination with a personalised text-messaging system. The messages either remind the wearer of why they decided to quit or send video messages to stress the importance of leaving tobacco in their rearview mirror.

"We've been able to differentiate between a single motion, which could be confused with eating or drinking, and a sequence of motions more clearly linked to the act of smoking a cigarette," said Ming-Chun Huang, an assistant electrical engineering and computer science professor who led the technical aspect of the study.

Virtual reality is being developed to treat a number of health disorders — including to help people quit smoking. The University of Quebec conducted a study with 91 smokers who played two games — one where they are crushing cigarettes and another where they had to grasp onto balls.

Their results showed that 15% of those playing the cigarette crushing game had cut down on smoking — as measured by carbon monoxide levels in an exhale test. However, only 2% of participants in the ball crushing game were able to alleviate their smoking habits.

The feeling of winning may have helped players associate crushing cigarettes virtually, to kicking the habit in real life. The next step for them is to find out if video games can deliver the same results.

Wearable technology isn’t new, but use-cases are increasing by the day. A project called MD2K, pulled information from wearable gadgets and its multiple sources — including the wristband’s accelerometer and gyrometer to identify ‘smoking gestures’, used GPS to identify location and used the gadget’s heart rate variability sensors. Combined, it allowed the researchers to narrow down on what kind of environments and behaviours trigger lapses in smoking.

Using that information, they hope to develop ‘just-in-time’ interventions as pop-up messages or surveys on the participants’ smartphones. They have won $10.8 million from the National Institutes of Health to develop hardware and software that compiles and analyses health data to anticipate and prevent ‘adverse health events’.