Award Abstract # 1565268
CSR: Large: Collaborative Research:Smart earpiece for supporting healthy eating behaviors

NSF Org: CNS
Division Of Computer and Network Systems
Recipient: CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date: September 20, 2016
Latest Amendment Date: July 5, 2017
Award Number: 1565268
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: Marilyn McClure
mmcclure@nsf.gov
 (703)292-5197
CNS
 Division Of Computer and Network Systems
CSE
 Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Start Date: October 1, 2016
End Date: September 30, 2020 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $374,646.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $374,646.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2016 = $230,277.00
FY 2017 = $144,369.00
History of Investigator:
  • Jacob Sorber (Principal Investigator)
    jsorber@clemson.edu
  • Kelly Caine (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Clemson University
201 SIKES HALL
CLEMSON
SC  US  29634-0001
(864)656-2424
Sponsor Congressional District: 03
Primary Place of Performance: Clemson University
300 BRACKET HALL, Box 345702
Clemson
SC  US  29634-0001
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
03
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): H2BMNX7DSKU8
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): CSR-Computer Systems Research
Primary Program Source: 01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 7925, 9150
Program Element Code(s): 735400
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.070

ABSTRACT

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 behavioral change to encourage healthy weight management, we are still not able to effectively, quickly and easily measure eating and drinking behavior. This project's goal is to develop a digital earpiece,­­ small and comfortable enough to wear behind the ear,­­ that can sense and detect actions such as eating and drinking. The project's long­term vision is to enable behavioral ­health researchers to better understand health-­related behaviors and, subsequently, to support the development of effective behavioral­ health 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 middle­school students, expanding the supply of scientists educated in this important emerging topic.

The project's approach is to build a prototype wireless earpiece, small enough to wear behind the ear, with low­power (microwatt­scale) electronics and software sufficient to allow for the battery to last a full waking day; to develop efficient algorithms for detecting and distinguishing health­related behaviors (eating, drinking, smoking, speaking, and stress); and to develop easy and effective means for the wearer to interact with the earpiece and its applications.
The team expects to 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.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

Note:  When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).

Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.

Bi, Shengjie and Caine, Kelly and Halter, Ryan and Sorber, Jacob and Kotz, David and Wang, Tao and Tobias, Nicole and Nordrum, Josephine and Wang, Shang and Halvorsen, George and Sen, Sougata and Peterson, Ronald and Odame, Kofi "Auracle: Detecting Eating Episodes with an Ear-mounted Sensor" Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies , v.2 , 2018 10.1145/3264902 Citation Details
Shengjie Bi, Tao Wang, Ellen Davenport, Ronald Peterson, Ryan Halter, Jacob Sorber, and David Kotz "Toward a Wearable Sensor for Eating Detection" Proceedings of the ACM Workshop on Wearable Systems and Applications (WearSys) , 2017 10.1145/3089351.3089355
Shengjie Bi, Tao Wang, Nicole Tobias, Josephine Nordrum, Shang Wang, George Halvorsen, Sougata Sen, Ronald Peterson, Kofi Odame, Kelly Caine, Ryan Halter, Jacob Sorber, and David Kotz "Auracle: Detecting Eating Episodes with an Ear-Mounted Sensor." Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies (IMWUT) (Ubicomp) , v.2 , 2018 10.1145/3264902

Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.

Print this page

Back to Top of page