# Quantifying Physical and Social Isolation, and Assessing Perceived Loneliness

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2020 · $393,252

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Project Psi-Fi (𝛹𝛷) leverages the Real-time, Open, Portable, Extensible, Speech Lab (OSP) developed under
grant R01DC015436 and expands its capabilities as a high fidelity sensor for physical and social Isolation
and loneliness assessment in support of clinical investigations focused on Alzheimer’s disease and related
dementias (AD/ADRD). There is emerging evidence that sensory (e.g., hearing loss), motor, and/or cognitive
impairments may contribute to limited social interactions, reduced physical activity, and ensuing perception of
loneliness. Project 𝛹𝛷 proposes to build software tools for quantifying oral interactions and physical activities
during activities of daily living (ADL) and augment these objective metrics with subjective assessment of
perceived loneliness using ecological momentary assessments (EMA).
OSP hardware includes a pager-sized processing and communication device (PCD) with two onboard
microphones and a six-degrees-of-freedom inertial motion sensing unit (IMU). OSP software includes real-time
signal processing libraries for master hearing aid functions and an embedded web server hosting web apps for
users and researchers to configure the OSP and access data from any browser-enabled device. The proposed
work extends OSP software as a 𝛹𝛷 sensor and enables research in the interplay between physical activity,
social isolation, and perceived loneliness during ADL.
This project will extend work on advanced signal processing functions done under the parent R01 grant to
develop libraries and application programmer interfaces (APIs) for (i) speaker diarization and (ii) physical activity
monitoring. Speaker diarization is an emerging discipline in speech processing to determine “who spoke when”
during unstructured oral interactions with unknown number of participants. Project Psi-Fi will adopt speaker
diarization algorithms to quantify social interactions based on speech during ADL. Many mature technologies
exist to quantify physical activity and sedentary behavior using IMU sensors during ADL. The existing OSP
software will be extended to allow physical activity monitoring with geolocations overlay. Existing web apps will
also be adapted to administer EMA assessments such as the UCLA loneliness scale for assessing perceived
loneliness. APIs will be provided to 𝛹𝛷 sensor data and enable researchers to tune the frequency and timing of
EMA surveys dynamically, based on the observed users’ activity. This project will also extend the work on
validation of OSP features for clinical investigations that was done as part of the parent R01 to establish
feasibility of a 𝛹𝛷 sensor to investigate interactions between physical activity, social engagement, and perceived
loneliness among normal and hearing loss subjects.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10123904
- **Project number:** 3R01DC015436-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Harinath Garudadri
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $393,252
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-08-01 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10123904

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10123904, Quantifying Physical and Social Isolation, and Assessing Perceived Loneliness (3R01DC015436-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10123904. Licensed CC0.

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