Sensitivity Analysis of Wearable Textiles for ECG Sensing

Abstract

Rapid advances in material science and mobile technology bring the new generation of wearable ECG sensing systems. In particular, sensing textiles have been widely used in cardiac monitoring. Unlike gel electrodes, sensing textiles are non-adhesive, providing the comfortable experience. However, the quality of textile-based ECG sensing is more sensitive to external factors (e.g., contact pressure). There is an urgent need to investigate how the quality of ECG sensing is influenced by these factors and improve the design of wearable textiles. In the literature, little has been reported on the sensitivity analysis of textile-based ECG sensing. In this study, we investigate the sensitivity of textile-based ECG sensing to four factors, i.e., contact pressure, textile placement, user's activity, and muscle activity. Specifically, ECG signals are collected using sensing textiles under these four factors. Then, heart rate and ECG morphology are characterized from the obtained ECG signals and compared with true signals (obtained by gel electrodes). Results show that the quality of textile-based ECG sensing is not sensitive to the contact pressure as long as it is =6N. When the patient is walking, nevertheless, the sensing quality can be strongly influenced by the textile placement. Furthermore, textiles placed on areas with fewer muscles achieve better signal. This study shows strong potentials for wearable ECG systems design to empower smart and connected cardiac health.