Laboratory validation of two wearable sensor systems for measuring head impact severity in football players
Abstract
Wearable sensors can measure head impact frequency and magnitude in football players. Our goal was to quantify the impact detection rate and validity of the direction and peak kinematics of two wearable sensors: a helmet system (HITS) and a mouthguard system (X2). Using a linear impactor, modified Hybrid-III headform and one helmet model, we conducted 16 impacts for each system at 12 helmet sites and 5 speeds (3.6-11.2 m/s) (N = 896 tests). Peak linear and angular accelerations (PLA, PAA), head injury criteria (HIC) and impact directions from each device were compared to reference sensors in the headform. Both sensors detected ~96% of impacts. Median angular errors for impact directions were 34° for HITS and 16° for X2. PLA, PAA and HIC were simultaneously valid at 2 sites for HITS (side, oblique) and one site for X2 (side). At least one kinematic parameter was valid at 2 and 7 other sites for HITS and X2 respectively. Median relative errors for PLA were 7% for HITS and -7% for X2. Although sensor validity may differ for other helmets and headforms, our analyses show that data generated by these two sensors need careful interpretation.
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The Head Impact Telemetry System (HITS) sensors detected 861 out of 896 impacts (96.1%).
“A study by Siegmund et al. (2016) reported that the Head Impact Telemetry System (HITS) sensors detected 861 out of the 896 impacts (96.1%).”
From A Critical Review of Consumer Wearables, Mobile Applications, and Equipment for Providing Biofeedback, Monitoring Stress, and Sleep in Physically Active Populations (2018) · cites this paper as Siegmund et al., 2016
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- Authors
- Siegmund, G. P., Guskiewicz, K. M., Marshall, S. W., DeMarco, A. L., & Bonin, S. J.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Corresponding author
- Siegmund, Gunter P.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Annals of Biomedical Engineering
- Published
- 2015-08-13
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1257-1274
- ISSN
- 0090-6964 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-9686
- OpenAlex
- W1193367861
- Cited by
- 145
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 13.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Annals of Biomedical Engineering (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Football League (Contract)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Automotive and Human Injury Biomechanics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Sports Dynamics and Biomechanics
- Keywords
- wearable sensors, head impact detection, football players, sports-related head injury, impact direction, peak linear acceleration, head injury criterion, Hybrid III headform, sensor validation, impact kinematics
- MeSH terms
- Acceleration, Biomechanical Phenomena, Football, Craniocerebral Trauma, Head Protective Devices, Humans, Laboratories, Mouth Protectors, Telemetry, Reproducibility of Results, Head Movements
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