# Ethical considerations implementing wearable sensors to record communication interactions by people with aphasia in the home and community

> **NIH NIH R01** · REHABILITATION INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO D/B/A SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITYLAB · 2022 · $162,271

## Abstract

Stroke is a major public health issue with life-long consequences for millions of survivors and
their caregivers. Aphasia is a common consequence of stroke whose impact reaches beyond
the resulting language deficit into every aspect of a person’s life. The goal of rehabilitation for
persons with aphasia is to improve communication, and ultimately meaningful participation, in
home and community activities. The parent R01 measures treatment outcomes in terms of
generalization and includes exploratory measures that involve the use of multiple wearable
monitoring devices: laryngeal sensor, long-form audio recorder and GPS.
The combined capabilities of these wearable monitoring devices present an innovative
opportunity to measure communication behaviors in participants’ day-to-day activities at home
and around their community. However, these technologies present a variety of bioethical
challenges to researchers and participants. For persons with aphasia in particular, there are
added challenges related to the informed consent process due to language impairments that
may impact comprehension or autonomy in decision making.
This administrative supplement investigates the informed consent process and highlights areas of
ethical importance for research that uses wearable monitoring devices with people with aphasia. We
take a collaborative approach to gather insight from research participants, their families as well as
experts in bioethics and fellow researchers. We plan to generate a set of recommendations
addressing the bioethical challenges associated with this type of research to assist others in the field
and inform future policy directions. Specifically, the administrative supplement aims to (1) conduct an
analysis of the informed consent process to identify opportunities for improvement and challenges
related to the informed consent process when wearable monitoring devices will be used by people
with aphasia; (2) conduct semi-structured interviews with study participants and identified family
members, caregivers, and/or friends to describe their experience and attitudes regarding the use and
implications of wearable monitoring devices; and (3) generate a set of recommendations to facilitate
the ethical conduct of research that uses wearable monitoring devices.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10594286
- **Project number:** 3R01DC016979-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** REHABILITATION INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO D/B/A SHIRLEY RYAN ABILITYLAB
- **Principal Investigator:** Leora R Cherney
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $162,271
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-07-09 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10594286

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10594286, Ethical considerations implementing wearable sensors to record communication interactions by people with aphasia in the home and community (3R01DC016979-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10594286. Licensed CC0.

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