Achieving continuity and efficiency with biometrics and health data can be achieved with wearables, as they allow for simultaneous engagement with the world while gathering data. IDTechEx's portfolio of Wearable Technology Research Reports covers electronic skin patches and sleep tracking devices all the way to smart mouthguards and glasses with real-time subtitles.
Smart watches and seamless devices
Wearables can offer the benefit of collecting data and communicating it in real time, so users can see the live tracking of their health stats. Seamlessness and comfortability are two of the main goals of wearable technology. Smart watches, worn like any other watch, have long been a common means of measuring biometrics such as heart rate and step count, so people can feel more on top of their own fitness levels at their own pace.
For sports players, data collected by smartwatches could help athletes evaluate their bodies' performance after a game and strive for more optimal play tactics.Smart mouthguards are also a new possibility for monitoring heart rate and other metrics, so health data can be collected and reviewed in a seamless way that feels no different to usual equipment.
Respiratory rate and blood pressure can also be taken through certain wearable devices, while optical sensing can provide information on heart rate and blood oxygen levels - beneficial to cardiac sensing applications. Such data taken from body-worn technologies can provide the accuracy and continuity of information that could benefit clinical trials and data collection. Devices such as smart rings that are becoming increasingly popular can also track sleep and fertility, offering new insights into health in the sleekest and most comfortable way.
IDTechEx's report, "Wearable Sensors Market 2025-2035: Technologies, Trends, Players, Forecasts" covers a wide variety of different wearable devices and applications, along with forecasts for their uptake over the next ten years.
Diabetes management and real-time narration
Glucose monitoring apps that take data from skin patches can allow people with diabetes to check their blood sugar levels at their own convenience, to evaluate whether they may need to administer insulin. This provides a new accessibility to health management where people can feel more in control of their own health. IDTechEx's reports, "Diabetes Management Technologies 2025-2035: Markets, Players, and Forecasts" and "Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence 2024-2034: Trends, Opportunities, and Outlook" cover the possibilities of self-managing health conditions with the implementation of wearable technology.
Smart glasses equipped with augmented reality (AR) capability could allow people who are hard of hearing to keep up with conversations, as real-time subtitles could appear on the lenses. Glasses fitted with a small camera and speaker could also enable narration of surroundings for visually impaired users, utilizing information from the environment. It may also be possible one day for smart watches to deliver information to the lenses through software pairing the devices together, so people can view their health stats in front of their eyes while on the move. These smart glasses with aural processing and narrative capabilities could offer a convenience to daily life with display and communication technology, covered in IDTechEx's report, "Displays for Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality 2024-2034: Forecasts, Technologies, Markets".
Developments within the wearables industry such as increasing battery life and reducing power consumption of devices are some hurdles to overcome, to allow wearables to become increasingly reliable and accessible to everyone. For more information, visit IDTechEx's portfolio of Wearable Technology Research Reports.
