New Smart Mask Monitors Breath for Real-Time Health Biomarkers

Researchers at Caltech have developed a new type of smart mask, EBCare, that monitors breath to provide real-time insights into various medical conditions, from asthma to kidney disease.

In an era where wearable health devices are becoming increasingly common, Caltech researchers have publsihed an innovative addition to the market: a high-tech paper mask that analyses chemicals in exhaled breath. Named EBCare, this smart mask could revolutionise how respiratory and metabolic diseases are monitored, offering patients a way to track their health conveniently and effectively from home.

Led by Professor Wei Gao of Caltech’s Medical Engineering department, the research team developed a prototype mask that targets conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and post-COVID-19 infections. Unlike other smart masks that detect changes in temperature, humidity, or breathing rate, EBCare focuses on analysing chemical markers in breath condensate. For example, the mask can detect nitrite levels, an indicator of airway inflammation commonly associated with asthma.

“Monitoring a patient’s breath is something that is routinely done, for example, to assess asthma and other respiratory conditions. However, this has required the patient to visit a clinic for sample collection, followed by a waiting period for lab results,” Gao explained. “Since COVID-19, people are wearing masks more. We can leverage this increased mask use for remote personalised monitoring to get real-time feedback about our own health in our home or office.”

EBCare employs a unique self-cooling mechanism to condense breath into a liquid form for analysis. This is achieved using a combination of hydrogel evaporative cooling and radiative cooling, integrating seamlessly into the mask. Once the breath is condensed, bioinspired microfluidic channels, designed to mimic the water transport systems in plants, move the liquid to sensors that detect specific chemical markers.

These sensors transmit their findings wirelessly to a smartphone, tablet, or computer, providing users with immediate health feedback. Remarkably, the mask’s construction costs only about £0.80 ($1) in materials, making it an affordable option for widespread use.

The team tested EBCare in human studies, focusing on individuals with asthma or COPD. The smart mask successfully detected nitrite levels, signalling inflammation in the airways. Additionally, the mask demonstrated its versatility by accurately monitoring blood alcohol levels and assessing blood urea levels to manage kidney disease.

“The smart mask platform for EBC harvesting and analysis represents a major advance in the potential to monitor lung health in real time,” said Harry Rossiter, a co-author of the study and professor of medicine at UCLA. The potential to expand this technology to detect a broader range of health markers further underscores its value.

This promising development sets the stage for EBCare to become a versatile health-monitoring platform, potentially aiding in the detection and management of various conditions from the comfort of one’s home. Future research will focus on incorporating additional biomarkers into the mask, hopefully paving the way for a new era in personalised health monitoring.

The study, titled “A smart mask for exhaled breath condensate harvesting and analysis” is out now in Science.