Personalized wearable devices that monitor people's health are on the rise. From watches to patches and other types of sensors, these smart devices can monitor heart activity, inflammation levels, and more to help patients better manage their health from their own homes. Now, a new type of wearable device can be added to the list: a high-tech paper mask that monitors one's breath.
Caltech's Wei Gao, professor of medical engineering, and his colleagues have developed a prototype for a smart mask that can be used to monitor a range of medical conditions, including respiratory ailments, such as asthma, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), and post-COVID-19 infections. In contrast to other smart masks being developed that monitor physical changes like the temperature, humidity, or rate of breath, this one, called EBCare, can analyze the chemicals in one's breath in real time. ("EBC" is an acronym used in this field that means "exhaled breath condensate.
") For example, the mask could monitor asthma patients for levels of nitrite, a chemical that indicates airway inflammation. "Monitoring a patient's breath is something that is routinely done, for example, to assess asthma and other respiratory conditions. However, this has required the patient to visit a clinic for sample collection, followed by a waiting period for lab results," says Gao, the lead investigator of a new study describing the mask in the journal Science .
"Since COVID-19, people are wearing masks more. We c.