SBIR Phase II: New Wearable for Body Focused Repetitive Behavior Detection

Award ID: 2026173

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will help people who suffer from body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs). Over 4% of Americans suffer from skin picking, hair pulling, and nail biting, the majority of whom resort to covering up the problem with makeup, gloves, wigs, and even tattoos due to treatment cost barriers and lack of effective tools to facilitate behavior change. While behavior therapy, and in particular habit reversal training, has shown efficacy, this method is traditionally burdened by unreliable journaling, a lack of access to treatment, and difficulty for patients to perform in real-time because of a lack of awareness. While real-time awareness devices do exist, there is room for improvement in detection accuracy. This project will integrate a novel sensor system into a wearable device that can lead to state-of-the-art detection accuracy of BFRB-related behaviors. This wearable sensor solution is the first of its kind, using the novel sensor to extract meaningful biomechanical information. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will result in new behavior recognition algorithms, a new remote monitoring system, and new data generated from in-field experiments. The project will: 1) develop a new sensor calibration system and characterize signal artifacts that may influence detection accuracy; 2) develop new behavior detection algorithms using data captured in the lab; 3) conduct self-guided experiments in the field using the remote monitoring system proposed; and 4) refine recognition algorithms. Such sensitive measurements require ideal signal integrity, be sufficiently immune to signal artifacts, and tight electronics integration within wearable design constraints. This wearable system can profoundly impact the efficacy of habit reversal training during cognitive behavioral therapy, the leading method for reducing the negative effect of these behaviors. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Alastair Monk