June 23, 2021
UW project uses smartphone or computer cameras to measure pulse, respiration rate
Throughout the pandemic, telehealth appointments have proved a critical tool for providing healthcare while minimizing in-person contact. However, remote appointments have prevented healthcare providers from collecting patients’ vital signs in real-time.
To address this issue, a team led by University of Washington researchers has developed a new method that utilizes the camera on a person’s smartphone or computer to measure physiological signals from a real-time video of their face.
This revolutionary system was introduced at the Neural Information Processing Systems conference in December 2020. The researchers have since worked to improve the system to accommodate varied video conditions, developing new methods to solve inconsistent lighting or video framing issues. Their findings were presented at the ACM Conference on Health, Interference, and Learning on April 8.
The new system holds the potential to solve traditional limitations to telehealth services. The researchers have received support for their innovative service through funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Google and the University of Washington.