Home » Technology » What if your mobile could ‘find out’ when you’ve had too much to drink by analyzing how you’re doing?

What if your mobile could ‘find out’ when you’ve had too much to drink by analyzing how you’re doing?

Researchers see potential in mobiles to know the state of intoxication – FLICKR / FLEQUI – ARCHIVE

MADRID, 23 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –

Your smartphone can tell when you’ve had too much to drink by detecting changes in your gait, according to a new study published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs led by Brian Suffoletto of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. (U.S).

For the study, Suffoletto and her colleagues recruited 22 adults between the ages of 21 and 43. The volunteers came to a laboratory and received a drink mixed with enough vodka to produce a high concentration of alcohol in their breath. They had an hour to finish the alcohol.

Then, every hour for seven hours, the participants tested their breath alcohol concentration and performed a walking task. For this task, the researchers placed a smartphone on the lower back of each participant, secured with an elastic belt. Participants walked in a straight line for 10 steps, turned around, and took 10 steps back.

Smartphones measured acceleration and mediolateral (side to side), vertical (up and down) and anteroposterior (forward and backward) movements as the participants walked. About 90 percent of the time, the researchers were able to use gait changes to identify when the concentration of alcohol in the participants’ breath exceeded 0.08 percent, the legal limit for driving in the United States.

Although placing the smartphone on the lower back does not reflect the way people carry their cell phones in real life, the research group plans to conduct additional research while people carry the phones in their hands and on the other. your pockets.

And while this is a small piece of research, the researchers note that it is a proof-of-concept study that “provides a basis for future research on the use of smartphones to remotely detect alcohol-related impairments.

“In 5 years, I would like to imagine a world in which if people go out with friends and drink at risk levels, they are alerted at the first sign of impairment and given strategies to help them stop drinking and protect them from events of high risks such as driving, interpersonal violence and unprotected sexual encounters, “explains Suffoletto.

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