Remote heart rate sensors can be biased against darker skin. A UCLA team offers a solution

Key takeaways:Engineering for equity. New engineering approaches like the one pioneered by UCLA researchers are needed to overcome the shortcomings of current health-related remote sensing technologies.Further fixes. The researchers say the new device is an initial step toward health diagnostics that are fair and accurate across a diverse set of attributes, including skin tone,  body mass and gender.As telemedicine has grown more popular, so have devices that allow people to measure their vital signs from home and transmit the results by computer to their doctors. Yet in many cases, obtaining accurate remote readings for people of color has proved a persistent challenge.  Take remote heart rate measurements, for example, which rely on a camera sensing subtle changes in the color of a patient ’s face caused by fluctuations in the flow of blood beneath their skin. These devices, part of an emerging class of remote technologies,consistently have trouble reading color changes in people with darker skin tones, saidAchuta Kadambi, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at theUCLA Samueli School of Engineering.Kadambi and his team have now developed a remote diagnostic technique that overcomes this implicit bias against darker skin while also making heart rate readings more accurate for patients across the full range of skin tones. Their secret? Combining the light-based measurements of a camera with radio-based measurements from radar.  The researchers ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news