A Continuously Worn Dual Temperature Sensor System for Accurate Monitoring of Core Body Temperature from the Ear Canal

Abstract

The objective of this work was to develop a temperature sensor system that accurately measures core body temperature from an ear-worn device. Two digital temperature sensors were embedded in a hearing aid shell along the thermal gradient of the ear canal to form a linear heat balance relationship. This relationship was used to determine best fit parameters for estimating body temperature. The predicted body temperatures resulted in intersubject limits of agreement (LOA) of ±0.49 °C over a range of physiologic and ambient temperatures without calibration. The newly developed hearing aid-based temperature sensor system can estimate core body temperature at an accuracy level equal to or better than many devices currently on the market. An accurate, continuously worn, temperature monitoring and tracking device may help provide early detection of illnesses, which could prove especially beneficial during pandemics and in the elderly demographic of hearing aid wearers.

Keywords

• core body temperature
• ear
• hearable
• hearing aid
• temperature measurement