New research reveals challenges and missed opportunities for wearables in clinical trials

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A ‘significant’ number of biopharma companies are not actively incorporating wearable technology into their clinical trials, according to a new study from the Life Science Strategy Group, which argues there is a missed opportunity.

The report focuses on adoption of wearable technology in clinical trials and perceived preparedness of contract research organisations (CROs) to include wearable technology into clinical development services. Quantitative research with nearly...

By Wearable Tech, 06 December 2016, 1 comment. Categories: Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness.

Finnish health technology firm Ouraring closes €5 million in Series A funding

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Finland-based health technology company Ouraring, which claims to develop the world’s first ‘wellness ring’ alongside corresponding smartphone application ŌURA, has closed a €5 million series A funding round.

ŌURA is used in over 50 countries across the world out of which about two-thirds of the users are in the US alone. Apart from the individual users, many top universities, research organisations, sleep clinics, and companies also utilise rich data provided by...

By Wearable Tech, 01 December 2016, 0 comments. Categories: Fitness, Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness.

New research aims to create ‘wearable stethoscope’ for heart and speech monitoring

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Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) and Northwestern University in Illinois, alongside the Eulji University College of Medicine in Korea, have developed a wearable acoustic sensor that can monitor heart health and recognise spoken words.

The sensor is a stretchable device that captures physiological sound signals from the body. It is well matched with human skin and can be mounted on nearly any surface of the body, says Jae-Woong Jeong, CU Boulder assistant...

By Wearable Tech, 21 November 2016, 0 comments. Categories: Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness.

TomTom launches Get Going campaign to strengthen its wearable sports brand

Picture credit: TomTom

TomTom has partnered with Amsterdam-based advertising agency Pool Worldwide to promote its new Get Going campaign, in order to further strengthen its Sports brand.

The campaign aims to span global markets with television, cinema, print, digital, and out-of-home ad placements.

TomTom has also added three new devices to its North American fitness wearables portfolio, namely TomTom Touch, TomTom Spark 3 and TomTom Adventurer. The TomTom Touch is claimed to be the first fitness tracker in...

By Wearable Tech, 03 November 2016, 0 comments. Categories: Fitness, Health Monitoring.

Emotion tracker Sence tracks 64 emotions using ‘heart rate variability’

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Planexta has introduced its Kickstarter campaign for the first emotion tracker for electrocardiography (ECG) technology, Sence. The technology helps users to understand their emotional state by measuring more than 64 emotions using heart rate variability (HRV), while simultaneously monitoring events that might trigger certain feelings.

HRV is as accurate as an ECG, which is 250 times better than traditional fitness trackers that use optical sensors that measure blood flow.

Users can track...

By Wearable Tech, 02 November 2016, 0 comments. Categories: Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness.

Researchers developing ‘smart textiles’ to help improve lives of Parkinson’s disease patients

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A biomedical engineering professor at the University of Rhode Island (URI) and his team of students are exploring a technique that will help improve the lives of patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

Along with his team, Kunal Mankodiya, director of URI’s Wearable Biosensing Laboratory, is researching how to transform gloves, socks, clothing and even shoes into high-tech items that will make people with Parkinson’s disease healthier.

The research focuses on...

By Wearable Tech, 01 November 2016, 0 comments. Categories: Clothing & Textiles, Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness, IoT.

Wearable health tech firm Mio Global secures $15 million in series B funding

Picture credit: Mio Global

Canada-based Mio Global, a company which provides wearable health technologies, has announced $15 million in funding led by Hydra Ventures with participation from private investors.

The company is seeking to impact the global health scenario with its new Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI) personal health metric and Mio SLICE wrist-based fitness tracker.

PAI uses heart rate to track the body’s response to all types of physical activity while providing actionable and...

By Wearable Tech, 20 October 2016, 1 comment. Categories: Devices, Fitness, Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness.

Adopting fitness trackers in businesses saves $1,000 per employee

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Fitness trackers have the ability to save $1000 per employee based on the results of a study conducted by Springbuk. 

The study aimed to calculate the actual return investment of equipping staff with fitness trackers as part of their health and wellness programs, the findings offer a glimpse into how the wearables can not only improve the health of employees...

By Ryan Daws, 19 October 2016, 0 comments. Categories: Devices, Enterprise, Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness, Research, Workplace.

This ‘artificial vision’ device aims to help the visually impaired accomplish daily tasks

Picture credit: Orcam My Eye

A newly developed ‘artificial vision’ wearable technology device aims to help the almost 250 million people suffering from low vision globally achieve everday tasks with more ease than using traditional assistive reading devices, according to a study presented at the latest meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).

The Orcam My Eye is a hands-free device that can be clipped to eyeglasses. It features a miniature camera that sees and recognises what the...

By Wearable Tech, 19 October 2016, 0 comments. Categories: Eyewear, Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness.

Why the global pharma industry will adopt digital health tools in coming five years

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A recently published research paper by healthcare technology provider Validic states that the global pharma and biotech will increasingly turn to digital health tools over the next five years to better collect, analyse and act on patient-generated health data (PGHD). This growth is attributed to increased pressures to reduce trials costs, streamline processes, demonstrate real world-efficacy, address medication adherence and improve treatments for chronic diseases.

The survey...

By Wearable Tech, 17 October 2016, 0 comments. Categories: Health Monitoring, Health & Wellness.