UC San Diego

Annually, hundreds of millions of adults will suffer from chronic neck pain or sleep apnea, thus reducing patients’ mobility, decreasing quality of life, and decreasing productivity. These two conditions exert immense negative influence on the economic prosperity of a nation. Furthermore, the management and treatment of these disorders generates economic and healthcare expenditure more than $400 billion. Unfortunately, this significant cost incurred is attributed to the inability of medical devices to diagnose and monitor chronic neck pain and sleep apnea in a rapid and affordable manner. Therefore, this investigation outlines fabrication of a multi-layer, remote and wearable device integrating multiple sensors for the continuous monitoring of chronic pain and sleep apnea. The development of this wearable device involves three key aims: 1) assessment of hardware design, 2) evaluation of digital signal processing strategy and 3) fabrication and characterization of integrated, multi-layer, soft wearable device. Overall, the proposed device strives to increase efficacy in monitoring patients, reduce cost of monitoring and generate deep insights into the effect of chronic conditions on vital signals.