Abstract
Smart clothing is a sort of wearable device used for ubiquitous health monitoring. It provides comfort and efficiency in vital sign measurements and has been studied and developed in various types of monitoring platforms such as T-shirt and sports bra. However, despite these previous approaches, smart clothing for electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring has encountered a serious shortcoming relevant to motion artifacts caused by wearer movement. In effect, motion artifacts are one of the major problems in practical implementation of most wearable health-monitoring devices. In the ECG measurements collected by a garment, motion artifacts are usually caused by improper location of the electrode, leading to lack of contact between the electrode and skin with body motion. The aim of this study was to suggest a design for ECG–monitoring clothing contributing to reduction of motion artifacts. Based on the clothing science theory, it was assumed in this study that the stability of the electrode in a dynamic state differed depending on the electrode location in an ECG-monitoring garment. Founded on this assumption, effects of 56 electrode positions were determined by sectioning the surface of the garment into grids with 6 cm intervals in the front and back of the bodice. In order to determine the optimal locations of the ECG electrodes from the 56 positions, ECG measurements were collected from 10 participants at every electrode position in the garment while the wearer was in motion. The electrode locations indicating both an ECG measurement rate higher than 80.0 % and a large amplitude during motion were selected as the optimal electrode locations. The results of this analysis show four electrode locations with consistently higher ECG measurement rates and larger amplitudes amongst the 56 locations. These four locations were abstracted to be least affected by wearer movement in this research. Based on this result, a design of the garment-formed ECG monitoring platform reflecting the optimal positions of the electrode was suggested.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Catherwood, P. A., Donnelly, N., Anderson, J., and McLaughlin, J., ECG motion artefact reduction improvements of a chest-based wireless patient monitoring system. Comput. Cardiol. 37:557–560, 2010.
Cho, H.-S., Koo, S.-M., Lee, J., Cho, H., Kang, D.-H., Song, H.-Y., Lee, J.-W., Lee, K. H., and Lee, Y.-J., Heart monitoring garment using textile electrodes for healthcare applications. J. Med. Syst. 35:189–201, 2011.
Cömert, A., Honkala, M., and Hyttinen, J., Effect of pressure and padding on motion artifact of textile electrodes. BioMed. Eng. Online 2013:12–26, 2013.
De Rossi, D., and Veltink, P. H., Wearable technology for biomechanics: e-textile of micromechanical sensor? IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Mag. 29:37–43, 2010.
Finlay, D. D., Nugent, C. D., Donnelly, M. P., McCullagh, P. J., and Black, N. D., Optimal electrocardiographic lead systems: practical scenarios in smart clothing and wearable health systems. IEEE Trans. Inf. Technol. Biomed. 12(4):433–441, 2008.
Fletcher, G. F., Balady, G. J., AmSterdam, e. A., Chaitman, B., Eckel, R., Fleg, J., Froelicher, V. F., Leon, A. S., I. L, Rodney, P. R., Simons-Morton, D. G., Williams, M. A., and Bazzarre, T. Exercise standards for testing and training. J. Am. Heart Assoc. 1694–1740, 2008.
Griffiths, A., Das, A., Fernandes, B., and Gaydecki, P., A portable system for acquiring and removing motion artefact from ECG signals. J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 76(1), 012038, 2007.
Jeong, Y., Kim, S.-H., and Yang, Y., Development of tight-fitting garments with a portable ECG monitor to measure vital signs. J. Korean Soc. Cloth. Text. 34(1):112–125, 2009.
Koo, H. R., Lee, Y.-J., Gi, S., Khang, S., Lee, J. H., Lee, J.-H., Lim, M.-G., Park, H.-J., and Lee, J.-W., The effect of textile-based inductive coil sensor positions for heart rate monitoring. J. Med. Syst. 38:2, 2014.
Kyriacou, E., Pavlopoulos, S., Berler, A., Neophytou, M., Bourka, A., Georgoulas, A., Anagnostaki, A., Karayiannis, D., Schizas, C., Pattichis, C., Andreou, A., and Koutsouris, D., Multi-purpose healthcare telemedicine systems with mobile communication link support. BioMed. Eng. Online 2(1):7, 2003.
Lee, K., and Park, H. S., A study in the perceived health status, depression and activities of daily living for the elderly in urban areas. Korean J. Women Health Nurs. 12(3):221–230, 2006.
Liu, S.-H., Motion artifact reduction in electrocardiogram using adaptive filter. J. Med. Biol. Eng. 31(1):67–72, 2010.
Mühlsteff, J., Such, O., Schmidt, R., Pekuhn, M., Reiter, H., Lauter, J., Thijs, J., Müsch, G., and Harris M., Wearable approach for continuous ECG- and activity patient-monitoring. 26th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 1(5):2184–2187, 2004
Pacelli, M., Loriga, G., Taccini, N., and Paradiso, R. Sensing fabrics for monitoring physiological and biomechanical variables: E-textile solutions, Medical Devices and Biosensors, 2006. International Summer School on 3rd IEEE-EMBS 1–4, 2006.
Pacelli, M., Paradiso, R., Anerdi, G., Ceccarini, S., Ghignoli, M., Lorussi, F., Scilingo, E. P., De Rossi, D., Gemignani, A., and Ghelarducci, B., Sensing threads and fabrics for monitoring body kinematic and vital signs. Fibres and Textiles for Future - 90th Anniversary of Academic Textile Research and Education in Finland :55–63, 2001.
Paradiso, R., Wearable heath care system for vital signs monitoring. 4th International. IEEE Special Topic Conference: Information Technology Applications in Biomedicine, 283–286, 2003.
Park, S., and Jayaraman, S., Enhancing the quality of life through wearable technology. IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Mag. 22(3):41–48, 2003.
Shimuzu, K., Telemedicine by mobile communication. IEEE Eng. Med. Biol. Mag. 18(4):32–44, 1999.
Silva Cunha, J. P., Cunha, B., António, Xavier, W., Ferreira, N., Meireles, L., and Pereira, S. Vital-Jacket®: a wearable wireless vital signs monitor for patients’ mobility in Cardiology and Sports. 2010 4th International Conference Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare (PervasiveHealth) :1–2, 2010.
Song, H.-Y., Design of woven textile electrode for monitoring the electrical activity of the heart in smart sportswear, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Clothig and Textiles, Yonsei University, 2010.
Suave Lobodzinski, S., and Laks, M. M., Comfortable textile-based electrocardiogram systems for very long-term monitoring. Cardiol. J. 15(5):477–480, 2008.
Wang, Y., Doleschel, S., Wunderlich, R., and Heinen, S., A wearable wireless ECG monitoring system with dynamic transmission power control for long-term homecare. J. Med. Syst. 39:35, 2015.
Yoon, S. W., Min, S. D., Yun, Y. H., Lee, S., and Lee, M., Adaptive motion artifacts reduction using 3-axis accelerometer in E-textile ECG measurement system. J. Med. Syst. 32(2):101–106, 2008.
Ethical standards
The experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Systems-Level Quality Improvement
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cho, H., Lee, J.H. A Study on the Optimal Positions of ECG Electrodes in a Garment for the Design of ECG-Monitoring Clothing for Male. J Med Syst 39, 95 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-015-0279-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-015-0279-2