Toronto test subjects try out smart underpants to monitor cardiovascular health

Sometimes it seems like, every time we turn around, our household gadgets and appliances get a little bit smarter.

First came the phones and TVs. Then everything from window blinds to toasters and doorbells to water bottles seemed to be eligible for an IQ upgrade. (For the curious: Smart Water bottles tell us when to drink, for humans who can’t figure that out on their own.)

Next up? Well, over the next few weeks, roughly 10,000 Torontonians are going to be testing out intelligent, heart-monitoring underwear. Every pair will be made with Skiin, a proprietary fabric with biometric sensors woven into the material so that the underpants can keep track of your heart by performing an electrocardiogram (ECG) while you walk, eat, sleep or whatever.

Before you add Smart Pants to your Christmas wish list, though, note that, for the moment, it’s only available for people with cardiovascular problems.

“Our aim is to make sure that the people who can benefit from it most will be the first recipients,” says Milad Alizadeh-Meghrazi, vice president of research, development and partner integration at Myant, a Toronto company that’s working on reimagining how health care services are delivered through smart textiles. “After that, we’ll probably make it available to the general public, but we want to make sure that the cardiac patients whose appointments have been backlogged six or nine months due to COVID are the first people to try it and receive the benefits.”

Alizadeh-Meghrazi and colleagues at Myant have been quietly working for over five years to make textile computing a reality. It’s only now finally gearing up to do a soft launch of some of the items in the baseline collection from its “Powered by Skiin” brand. In addition to underwear, the company has been working on a bra, tank top, socks, bands and compression workout shorts.

More importantly, as next-level as heart-monitoring undergarments sounds, it’s probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to medical applications for textile computing, since these fabrics can simultaneously measure temperature, heart rate, oxygen levels, blood pressure and glucose levels. They could offer help to people living with chronic ailments like diabetes and sleep apnea, and help people decide whether or not to go to the emergency room for acute problems. With COVID-19, for example, falling blood oxygen levels are a sign that you should immediately seek emergency treatment.

“With the next generation of products, Skiin will be more holistic and able to do a plurality of sensing of user biometrics and environmental factors,” explains Alizadeh-Meghrazi. “We’re taking it one step at a time, though, and staying mostly under the radar because we want to make sure the technologies are mature and can be relied upon clinically.”

This, in fact, has been at least as big (and possibly bigger) a job as designing the actual fabric. “You can have the best smart textile in the world,” he says. “But if it’s not accurate and it’s not meaningful for the user, it will not be adopted, so that’s what we’ve been really working on.”

To help build out an extensive framework for Skiin, the company recruited over 20 researchers and problem-solvers from academic institutions with the help of Mitacs, an innovation organization that helps small and medium businesses hire and get funding for PhD students and post-doctoral fellows from universities for short-term projects. These interns played a big role in helping the company validate the efficacy of Skiin and obtain a Health Canada Class II medical device certification.

“My background is in neuroscience and physiotherapy, so I’m working with patients and helping them to understand how the app works,” explains Clarissa Pedrini Schuch, a post-doctoral fellow at University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health who is on a one-year internship at Myant. “And, at the same time, I’m working with the back-end data to create patient reports, so the physician can easily see a summary of the metrics that’s easy to understand.”

Unlike a lot of wearable tech and smart gadgets that are mostly geared to help individuals with their personal journey to achieve optimal health, Myant’s aim is to use this technology to help improve public health. Alizadeh-Meghrazi hopes that it will be used in conventional healthcare settings and by caregivers, as well as help family members look after loved ones, regardless of physical distance.

“It might sound like this is another one of those ‘best things since sliced bread moments,” he says. “But we’re saying the potential is huge, since we believe in the ultimate goal of delivering remote patient monitoring and chronic care management at home through smart textiles, extending the reach of health care services beyond the bricks and mortar of health care facilities.”

He adds: “And this system, genuinely, has the potential to be an equitable and accessible system, so much so that when people ask, ‘Who is this product for?’ I answer, ‘For anybody who has a beating heart.’”

Sounds like this might be one of the few smart devices in the wellness sphere that actually lives up to its name. It can probably even tell you when to drink water — if you need help with that.

There’s still one big question, though. Is it comfortable? That’s key when it comes to undergarments.

Says Alizadeh-Meghrazi: “I wear it every day. You wouldn’t notice anything different from normal underwear, other than a tiny pocket that houses the electronics, that’s about the size of two walnut halves on the left side of your hip or chest.

“That’s it and you’re good to go.”