Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Aug 16, 2023
Date Accepted: Jan 3, 2024
Objective assessment of physical activity at home: a comparison of a novel floor-vibration monitoring system, wearable activity trackers, and indirect calorimetry measurements
ABSTRACT
Background:
This study tests an original floor-vibration monitoring system to quantify housework-related physical activity.
Objective:
To assess the validity of step-count and physical activity intensity predictions of the novel floor-vibration monitoring system with respect to the actual number of steps and indirect calorimetry measurements. The accuracy of predictions was also compared with the ones of research-grade devices (ActiGraph GT9X).
Methods:
The Ocha-House is an independent experimental house located in Tokyo, in which high-sensitivity accelerometers are installed on the floor to monitor vibrations. A data processing software was designed to process floor-vibration signals and compute the three following quantitative indexes: floor vibration quantity, step-count and moving distance. Eleven participants performed four different housework activities, wearing Actigraph GT9X monitors on both the waist and wrist for 6 min each. The floor-vibration data were collected and the energy expenditure was measured by using the Douglas bag method, to determine the actual intensity of activities.
Results:
Significant correlations (P<.001) were found between the quantity of floor vibrations, the estimated step-count, the estimated moving distance, respectively, and the actual activity intensities. The step-count parameter extracted from the floor vibration signal was found to be the best predictors (r2=0.82, P<.001). Multiple regression models that include several floor vibration-extracted parameters showed a strong association with the actual activity intensities (r2=0.87). The step-count and intensity predictions made by the floor vibration monitoring system were more accurate that the ones of the ActiGraph monitors.
Conclusions:
Floor vibration monitoring systems seem able to produce valid quantitative assessments of the physical activity for housework activities. In the future, connected smart home systems integrating this type of technology could be used to perform continuous and accurate evaluations of the daily physical activity.
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