Scientists are reportedly developing a “smart necklace” that has the potential to assist smokers quit cigarettes.
The monitoring device, which is being developed by researchers on the Northwestern University within the U.S., known as SmokeMon.
The study on the promising latest device was published within the journal Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable, and Ubiquitous Technologies.
The necklace is made from a small blue box that conceals heat-sensing technology. Nonetheless, it may very well be fashioned in any approach to suit people’s different styles in time.
Researchers aim to make use of the device to watch smokers once they light one up and suggest the help they require to quit the habit.
“For many individuals who try to quit smoking, a slip is one or two cigarettes or perhaps a single puff. But a slip just isn’t similar to a relapse (going back to smoking often),” senior creator Nabil Alshurafa, a behavioral and computer scientist from Northwestern University, said, ScienceAlert reported. “An individual can learn from slips, by gaining awareness that they didn’t fail, they only had a short lived setback. To avoid a relapse, we are able to then begin to shift their give attention to how we handle their triggers and take care of cravings.”
The brand new technology has an edge over other prototype devices in that it detects smoking more accurately and discreetly than others.
Battery-operated, the device employs thermal sensors to detect heat radiating from a lit cigarette’s tip and collects data on each cigarette. Information just like the variety of puffs taken, the quantity of smoke inhaled, and the time between puffs is collected.
Within the study, 19 people were analyzed for his or her smoking behavior while wearing the smart necklace. The study conducted 115 sessions, each in a laboratory and in the true world.
The primary focus of testing the necklace outside the lab was to see if it made smokers uncomfortable in public, and if it elicited a response from bystanders.
Following evaluation, it was found most participants didn’t report any interference with their day by day life or smoking behavior on account of the device.
One participant within the study stated, “I had one friend who inquired about what the device was recording, and he seemed satisfied after I told him it wasn’t recording audio or video.”
For future research, the authors have provided an open-source data-processing platform, with the goal to judge smoking behavior.
“Now we are able to begin to check the effectiveness of this device in improving the success rate of smoking cessation programs by stopping relapse in smokers who’re planning to quit,” Alshurafa said, as per the outlet. “We’ll give you the option to check whether real-time feedback and interventions will be more practical than usual care.”