Smartphones can tell when you’ve had too much to drink. Here’s how
Perched in your pocket sits a powerful sensor capable of telling you when you’ve had too much to drink, according to a new study on smartphones. Researchers say the devices can save lives by detecting changes in your walking behavior.
Real-time data about alcohol intoxication could help reduce alcohol consumption, prevent drunk driving, stop unprotected sexual encounters and even alert sponsors for people undergoing treatment for alcoholism, the study said.
The University of Pittsburgh researchers say their paper, published Tuesday in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, is a “proof-of-concept study that provides a foundation for future research” on smartphones and alcohol-impairment.
“I lost a close friend to a drinking and driving crash in college,” study lead author Dr. Brian Suffoletto, who is now with the Stanford University School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine, said in a news release. “And as an emergency physician, I have taken care of scores of adults with injuries related to acute alcohol intoxication.”
“Because of this, I have dedicated the past 10 years to testing digital interventions to prevent deaths and injury related to excessive alcohol consumption,” Suffoletto said. “This controlled lab study shows that our phones can be useful to identify ‘signatures’ of functional impairments related to alcohol.”
The researchers provided a mixed drink with vodka to 22 adults between 21 and 43 years old in a lab and gave the participants one hour to down the beverage; it was enough alcohol to produce a breath alcohol concentration of .20%, according to the study.
A BAC of .20% can make you feel “confused and disoriented,” nauseous and “blackouts become likely at this point,” according to Saint John’s University.
Suffoletto and colleagues placed a smartphone on each participant’s lower back, securing it with an elastic belt, and had them walk 10 steps back and forth in a straight line. Every hour for seven hours, participants had their breath alcohol concentration measured before each walking task, according to the study.
About 90% of the time, the smartphones were able to detect changes in walk that the researchers later used to identify when participants’ exceeded a BAC of .08% — the legal limit for driving in the U.S.
The team acknowledges that people don’t normally carry their smartphones on their lower backs, but they said the method lays the groundwork for additional study with participants carrying phones in their hands and pockets.
