Non-invasive monitoring of eating behavior using spectrogram analysis in a wearable necklace

Food intake levels, hydration, chewing and swallowing rate, and dietary choices are all factors known to impact one´s health. This paper presents a novel wearable system in the form of a necklace, which aggregates data from an embedded piezoelectric sensor capable of detecting skin motion in the lower trachea during ingestion. We propose an algorithm based on spectrogram analysis of piezoelectric sensor signals to accurately distinguish between food types such as liquid and solid, hot and cold drinks and hard and soft foods. The necklace transmits data to a smartphone, which performs the processing of the signals, classifies the food type, and provides visual feedback to the user to assist the user in monitoring their eating habits over time. Experimental results demonstrate high classification accuracy of the proposed method, and validate the use of a spectrogram in extracting key features representative of the unique swallow patterns of various foods.