Devices that can quantify stress, or at least the symptoms of stress, are expensive and inaccurate especially when measuring heart rate. Our device evaluation team has given feedback on several of the current devices that could be used to quantify stress in a research setting. They have also provided a recommendation as to whether or not these devices would be useful for the intended purpose. They spent extensive amounts of time testing these devices, each member spent a week with each of the devices, and the results are summarized in the document below. BTAP has also been working on building a device that will be able to replace any device on the market that measures stress symptoms at a significantly lower price. Most devices run for at least $200, ours will be available for less than $60.
There are many potential biometric trackers on the market, part of our team tests these to assess their efficacy for our current needs. We currently test devices and assess their potentiality for use in assessing stress levels. We would want any current device to be paired with one of our therapeutic apps, so that we can assess patient stress level without them verbally stating their stress level. Many patients currently using our apps struggle with verbally expressing their emotions due to Aphasia, so using biometrics to assess how they feel especially during treatment app usage is of upmost importance. Currently, we work with EEG based devices to assess brainwaves, and the Empatica E4 to assess biometrics. We made a powerpoint here that goes more in depth into each of the different devices we’ve currently tested.