Researchers at Northwestern University have developed a smart wearable device to track voice usage, alerting users to overuse before vocal fatigue and injury occurs.
The battery-powered device is claimed to be the first of its kind, designed with teachers, politicians, call-centre workers, coaches and professional singers in mind, potentially assisting clinicians to remotely and continuously monitor patients with voice disorders throughout treatment.
The small device is postage-stamp sized, designed to be flexible to adhere to the upper chest to sense vibrations associated with talking and singing. The data is streamed via Bluetooth to the user’s smartphone or tablet, allowing them to monitor their vocal activities in real time throughout the day, measuring the total vocal usage for the dy.
The device works in tandem with an app, featuring custom machine-learning algorithms to distinguish between speaking and singing, enabling singers to track each activity separately.
Operators can use the app to set their own personalised vocal thresholds, with a smartphone, smartwatch or accompanying device, providing real-time haptic feedback as an alert.
Theresa Brancaccio, voice expect and co-lead on the study, commented: “It’s easy for people to forget how much they use their voice. Seasoned classical singers tend to be more aware of their vocal usage because they have lived and learned. But some people — especially singers with less training or people, like teachers, politicians and sports coaches, who must speak a lot for their jobs — often don’t realize how much they are pushing it. We want to give them greater awareness to help prevent injury.”