MoveSense allows oxygen saturation to be monitored by phone sensors with what its developers describe as medical accuracy. A mobile phone must be carried in one’s pocket, and no pulse oximeter is required. The technology was developed by Bruce Schatz at the University of Illinois.
In a study, patients wore pulse oximeters (for comparison) and carried phones with MoveSense, which continuously recorded saturation and motion. Continuous saturation defined categories corresponding to status levels, including transitions. Continuous motion was used to calculate eight gait parameters from the data. Their existing gait model was then trained with these data points and used to predict transitions in oxygen saturation.
The researchers discovered that analysis of the saturation, combined with the gait data, could predict saturation with 100 percent accuracy. The model accounts for patients walking faster and slower, which impacts their hearts and lungs.