Though they aren’t always the most stylish of accessories, wearable smart devices come with their fair share of benefits. For example, smartwatches can alert you of abnormal heart rate activity while also monitoring your fitness progress. Smart rings can also track body temperature, sleep quality, breathing regularity, and stress levels. And now, there’s a new wearable smart device on the market that can inform users about their respiratory health—something many are eager to get control of given the recent COVID surge and with flu season right around the corner.
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According to a new research study published in Science, the EBCare smart mask analyzes the chemicals in your breath to monitor for asthma and other respiratory conditions in real-time. Its name includes the acronym “EBC,” which stands for “exhaled breath condensate.”
The biomedical device can also monitor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), post-COVID infections, lung disease, and metabolic-related issues, including kidney disease. As soon as a breath is released, the mask’s sensors evaluate and detect biomarkers for potential health problems. The results are wirelessly transmitted from the mask’s chip to a mobile app, where users can view and download the data instantaneously.
Additionally, the EBCare mask can help doctors and other health professionals infer whether a patient’s treatment plan is working without requiring a trip to the doctor’s office or lab.
"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," explains researcher and Caltech medical engineering professor Wei Gao in the study.
When breath samples are collected and evaluated by a professional lab, they first need to be cooled and condensed into a liquid state so they can undergo proper analysis, the study authors explain. To replicate this process, Gao designed a self-cooling mask that uses hydrogel evaporative cooling with radiative cooling to retrieve the necessary molecules for testing.
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"The mask represents a new paradigm for respiratory and metabolic disease management and precise medicine because we can easily get breath specimens and analyze the chemical molecules in breath in real time through daily masks," adds Wenzheng Heng, lead author of the study and a California Institute of Technology graduate student. "The breath condensate contains soluble gasses as well as nonvolatile substances in the form of aerosols or droplets, such as metabolic substances, inflammatory indicators, and pathogens."
In addition to detecting ammonium and nitrite levels (which can allude to airway inflammation), the new smart mask can track alcohol content and pH levels. And you can wear it anywhere and at any time. Best of all, the mask will cost less than a cup of coffee.
"The smart mask can be prepared at a relatively low cost," notes Gao. "It is designed to cost only about $1 in materials."
Initial studies show that the EBCare mask is successful at accurately detecting asthma, COPD, kidney disease, and high levels of alcohol content in humans, which can help prevent drinking and driving incidents.
Looking towards the future, Gao and his team have plans to build a more advanced EBCare mask model that can detect additional medical conditions.
"These first studies are a proof of concept," says Gao. "We want to expand this technology to incorporate different markers related to various health conditions. This is a foundation for creating a mask that functions as a versatile general health–monitoring platform."