An experimental vest that comes with a sensor system to monitor air quality in the near vicinity of asthmatics has already proven to be a success, especially for one volunteer whose vest detected more polluted air in his own home than anywhere else he goes.

The vest is being developed by a team of researchers led by Charlene Bayer, at Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). The US Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing support for the research, with initial funding from the GTRI Independent Research and Development program. Researchers hope the vest will enable them to better understand what, exactly, triggers an asthma attack.

The battery-operated sensor system, which weighs less than one pound, batteries included, fits into the pockets of the vest. One pocket holds the sensor system which measures environmental pollutants - total volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone - and air quality readings - temperature and relative humidity.

VOCs are gases emitted from household products such as building materials and furnishings, office equipment, craft materials, paints, cleaning supplies, and pesticides.

The second vest pocket holds an electronic peak flow meter, which measures pulmonary function throughout the day.

The air sensor device measures air quality every two minutes, stores the data in a memory chip, and goes to sleep to conserve battery power between readings. The device that measures pulmonary function records the time of any asthma attacks so they can be compared to the air quality readings when the attack occurred.

Six adult volunteers are wearing the vests all day long and keeping them at their bedsides at night. One volunteer’s vest recorded very high levels of VOCs in his home, higher than anywhere else he ever went. Research revealed a pathway of pollution that drew automobile gasoline and exhaust fumes from his basement garage into his home.

Researchers plan to develop smaller sensor systems that are even more sensitive to study the effects of air quality on asthmatic children in their homes, schools, and outdoors during play. Bayer suspects some compounds are more likely than others to trigger asthma attacks in children and she hopes the vest will help identify them.

Source: Georgia Institute of Technology, Research Communications