# Develop a wireless, skin-conformable and dual-sensing wearable system in support of voice and upper airway telehealth care

> **NIH NIH R01** · CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2024 · $608,826

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Voice and upper airway (VUA) disorders affect nearly 30% of the general population and 80% of occupational
voice users in the United States. Patients experience symptoms of vocal fatigue, hoarse voice, chronic cough or
breathing difficulties, affecting their daily communication and swallowing functions. Many of these symptoms can
be modified behaviorally and with therapeutic exercises. An incalcitrant treatment challenge is to support
patient compliance and their carryover of behavioral changes outside the clinic. Wearable technology is widely
adopted to help track patient’s health conditions and promote adherence to treatment. Existing wearables for
VUA health monitoring are, however, wired, semi-rigid and single modal sensing at best.
In this project, we will leverage our expertise in wearable electronics, biomaterial engineering and computational
medicine to develop a new class of VUA health wearable system. In particular, the new wearable will be wireless
and conformable to the neck skin surface. A dual-modal sensing technology, which will be implemented for the
very first time in VUA wearables, will be developed with neck surface accelerometry (NSA) and surface
electromyography (sEMG). The combined use of NSA and sEMG will offer complementary physiological
measurements that will allow for monitoring VUA symptoms with better precision and broader utility. Three
specific aims (S.A.) are proposed in this project.
S.A. 1. We will develop a single neck-worn wearable device that is skin-conformable, wireless and dual-sensing.
A commercial NSA sensor, a multi-channel sEMG array and peripheral electronics will be assembled on a
flexible, stretchable substrate. Our team has developed dry, soft sEMG electrodes, which will be customized for
detecting perilaryngeal muscle activity. We will implement wireless power management and data transmission
protocols. We will further modify our biocompatible and reusable adhesives for long-term wearable mounting.
S.A. 2. We will evaluate the new wearable device on vocally healthy participants to optimize the configuration
and placement of NSA and sEMG sensors. We will also develop efficient machine learning models to classify
VUA symptoms in near real time. Results will help us refine the wearable system toward system miniaturization.
S.A. 3. We will develop a companion smartphone application (app) for user-device interaction and data
management. We will then evaluate the usability and utilization of the wearable system in patients with laryngeal
hyperfunction who will undergo a week of remote monitoring in a free-living setting. Lastly, we will use the
collected wearable data to build patient-specific algorithms for estimating clinical VUA symptom severity.
Outcomes from this study will allow for iterative product improvement and translation of this technology for clinical
use in a rational and accountable way. Ultimately, this wearable system will assist clinicians to remotely track
patients’ VUA...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10980984
- **Project number:** 1R01DC021461-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** Wei Gao
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $608,826
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-05 → 2029-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10980984

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10980984, Develop a wireless, skin-conformable and dual-sensing wearable system in support of voice and upper airway telehealth care (1R01DC021461-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10980984. Licensed CC0.

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