EAT: A Reliable Eating Assessment Technology for Free-living Individuals

Summary

This study utilizes a small, privacy-conscious wearable device intended to monitor human behaviors. The device is worn around the neck, capturing the wearer's head and upper torso within its field of view, and records color images without audio. Participants visit the lab for consent, device training and recording of several activities using the device. Participants will then take the device home and wear it during their normal schedules for four "active" weeks. During each active week, participants will wear the device, keep a log of all food and drink items consumed throughout the day and participate in unscheduled phone calls with a dietitian. A "washout" week occurs in between each active week in which participants do not need to complete any study tasks. Alongside the device, we have included three privacy filters (blur, edge, and avatar) capable of obscuring faces and objects seen in the device-captured images. All participants will be subject to unfiltered recording during their first week followed by a different filter each following active week in a random order. At the start of each active week, participants view an example of what their recorded images will look like that week (given the privacy filter). At the end of the seven weeks, participants will return the device and provide the lab with feedback on the design of the device and its privacy-preserving features.

Conditions

• Wearable Electronic Device

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Blur Obfuscation

Blurring is applied to the RGB images.

BEHAVIORAL

Cartoon Obfuscation

Cartoonization is applied to the RGB images.

BEHAVIORAL

Edge Obfuscation

A black background and simple outlines of objects/people are applied to the RGB images.

BEHAVIORAL

No Obfuscation (raw)

No editing is performed on the RGB images.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

  collaborator NIH

• Northwestern University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-09-04

Primary Completion

2026-09-30

Completion

2026-10-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations