A Flexible, Low Noise Reflective PPG Sensor Platform for Ear-Worn Heart Rate Monitoring
Abstract
This paper presents a novel ear-worn reflective photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor that addresses the mechanical complexities of coupling the sensor to the surface of the skin and a detection circuit that minimises ambient noise artefacts. The flexible optoelectronic transducer structure can adapt to a variety of skin surface contours. Light emitting diode (LED) modulation and a unique integrating photocurrent demodulator reduce susceptibility to wideband noise and allow subtraction of ambient light from the desired PPG signal. Experimental results demonstrate that the sensitivity is robust to sensor location and application pressure variations. Simulations also show that the photodetection method is resilient against high levels of wideband noise.
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Cardiac-related components have negligible frequency components above 15Hz.
“As the cardiac-related components have negligible frequency components above 15Hz44, we separated noise above 15Hz and signal below 15Hz from PPG data using 3rd order Butterworth filter.”
From A Multimodal Dataset for Mixed Emotion Recognition (2024) · cites this paper as [44]
The arrangement of the source and detector in Patterson et al.'s flexible PPG sensor contributes to eliminating interference of ambient noise to the signal.
“Apart from its electronic system design, the arrangement of the source and detector in this sensor also contributes to eliminate the interference of ambient noise to the signal.”
From Sources of inaccuracy in photoplethysmography for continuous cardiovascular monitoring (2021) · cites this paper as [201]
Patterson et al.'s opto-electronic modulation scheme helps eliminate ambient light noise through multiplexing and sampling of light level by keeping LEDs off for a fixed time period and later subtracting it out from the desired signals.
“The opto-electronic modulation scheme in this flexible PPG sensor helps to eliminate ambient light noise through the multiplexing technique and sampling of light level by keeping the LEDs off for a fixed time period and later subtracting it out from the desired signals.”
From Sources of inaccuracy in photoplethysmography for continuous cardiovascular monitoring (2021) · cites this paper as [201]
An ear-worn, flexible, low-power PPG sensor for heart rate monitoring was introduced by Patterson et al.
“An ear-worn, flexible, low-power PPG sensor for heart rate monitoring was introduced by Patterson et al. [26].”
From A review of wearable sensors and systems with application in rehabilitation (2012) · cites this paper as [26]
The ear-worn PPG sensor is suited for long-term monitoring due to its location and unobtrusive design.
“The sensor is suited for long-term monitoring due to its location and unobtrusive design.”
From A review of wearable sensors and systems with application in rehabilitation (2012) · cites this paper as [26]
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A review of wearable sensors and systems with application in rehabilitation
Patel, S., Park, H., Bonato, P., Chan, L., & Rodgers, M. (2012) · Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1186/1743-0003-9-21 · Cited by 2,396 · see citing works
Wearable photoplethysmographic sensors—past and present
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Sources of inaccuracy in photoplethysmography for continuous cardiovascular monitoring
Fine, J., Branan, K. L., Rodriguez, A. J., Boonya-ananta, T., Ajmal, Ramella-Roman, J. C., McShane, M. J., & Coté, G. L. (2021) · Biosensors · doi:10.3390/bios11040126 · Cited by 348 · see citing works
A Multimodal Dataset for Mixed Emotion Recognition
Yang, P., Liu, N., Liu, X., Shu, Y., Ji, W., Ren, Z., Sheng, J., Yu, M., Yi, R., Zhang, D., et al. (2024) · Scientific Data · doi:10.1038/s41597-024-03676-4 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
- Authors
- Patterson, J. A. C., McIlwraith, D. C., & Yang, G.-Z.
- Affiliations
- Royal Society (GB)
- ORCID
- Yang, Guang-Zhong
- Venue
- 2009 Sixth International Workshop on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2009-06
- Pages
- 286-291
- ISSN
- 2376-8886 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2158314230
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 4.86
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Non-Invasive Vital Sign Monitoring
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Keywords
- heart rate monitoring, LED modulation, broadband noise, wearable sensing
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