A Modular Open Source Health Monitoring Garment^.

The ability to monitor physiological parameters in an individual is paramount for the evaluation of physical health and the detection of health ailments. Wearable technologies are being introduced on a widening scale to address the absence of modular, accessible, and non-invasive health monitoring as compared to medical grade technologies. In this work, an open source wearable garment is presented that is capable of addressing the absence of such a device. The garment is currently capable of recording electrocardiography, photoplethysmography, galvanic skin response, skin temperature, and respiration rate. The garment has a modular and scalable interface to allow for reconfiguration or expansion of sensor modalities at a total component cost of $137. In a small scale study, the garment is able to reveal strong correlation between heart rate and self perceived stress (R = 0.75, p < .001), showing promise in its ability to capture clinically-relevant physiological information. Based on these results, continued effort will be made to compile a wearable array of sensors tailored to monitor parameters of specific clinical interest.