Ear-worn Systems for Healthcare, Human-Computer Interaction, and Brain Stimulations

This talk discusses the concept of "Earable computers", small computing and actuating devices that are worn inside, behind, around, or on user's ears. Earable sensing and actuation are motivated from the fact that human ears are relatively close to the sources of many important physiological signals such as the brain, eyes, facial muscles, heart, core body temperature, and more. Therefore, placing the sensors and stimulators inside the ear canals or behind the ears could enable a wide range of applications from human computer interaction, health care, attention/focus monitoring, and opioid use reduction, just to name a few. Drawing the analogy from the evolutions of mobile systems and wearable systems, in this talk, I will discuss the opportunities that earable system could bring. I will share our experience and lessons learned through realizing such earable systems in the context of human computer interaction, brain computer interaction, and healthcare.  I will also elaborate the software, hardware, and practical challenges of earable systems and identify the potential solutions.