WildCam: A Privacy Conscious Wearable Eating Detection Camera People Will Actually Wear in the Wild

Sponsor

Northwestern University (Other)

Overall Status

Recruiting

CT.gov ID

NCT05547425

Collaborator

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) (NIH)

Enrollment

Location

Arms

Anticipated Duration (Months)

7.5

Patients Per Site Per Month

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

WildCam is a wearable device that collects video data of the user's face and upper torso to capture eating behaviors. WildCam and its accompanying software is privacy conscious, meaning it utilizes a computer vision algorithm that extracts proximal features (the user's body and objects-in-hand) from the video and digitally obfuscates the distal features (background environment and entities therein) to preserve the privacy of the wearer, as well as any bystanders who may be in the device's visual field. The present study tests the impact of 3 different obfuscation techniques on acceptability, including the willingness of users to wear the device. Participants are randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 obfuscation techniques (blurring, masking, or cartooning). Participants wear the WildCam during waking hours during a 7-day period with the randomly selected obfuscation setting enabled and a 7-day period with the raw images (no obfuscation) setting. The order of these periods is counterbalanced, and the two periods are separated by a 7-day washout period during which WildCam is not worn. Structured feedback, including user burden and acceptability surveys, is collected to determine the efficacy of each obfuscation technique on increasing user acceptability, including willingness to use the WildCam device, as opposed to a video-collecting device without obfuscation.

Condition or Disease	Intervention/Treatment	Phase
Wearable Electronic Devices	Device: Blur Obfuscation Device: Edge Obfuscation Device: Cartoon Obfuscation Device: Raw images	N/A

Study Design

Study Type:

Interventional

Anticipated Enrollment :

30 participants

Allocation:

Randomized

Intervention Model:

Parallel Assignment

Intervention Model Description:

Of the 3 obfuscation settings (blur, mask, cartoon), participants are randomly assigned to 1, which they test for the first or second 7-day test period. During the remaining test period, participants use WildCam with the raw images setting. There is a washout period between each test period. The order of the test sequence is counterbalanced across participants to reduce carryover effects.Of the 3 obfuscation settings (blur, mask, cartoon), participants are randomly assigned to 1, which they test for the first or second 7-day test period. During the remaining test period, participants use WildCam with the raw images setting. There is a washout period between each test period. The order of the test sequence is counterbalanced across participants to reduce carryover effects.

Masking:

None (Open Label)

Primary Purpose:

Basic Science

Official Title:

WildCam: A Privacy Conscious Wearable Eating Detection Camera People Will Actually Wear in the Wild

Anticipated Study Start Date :

Sep 1, 2022

Anticipated Primary Completion Date :

Oct 1, 2022

Anticipated Study Completion Date :

Jan 1, 2023

Arms and Interventions

Arm	Intervention/Treatment
Experimental: Blur obfuscation Blurring is applied to objects and people in the background of images.	Device: Blur Obfuscation Blurring is applied to objects and people in the background of images.
Experimental: Edge obfuscation Objects and people in the background of images are replaced with an outline of the object.	Device: Edge Obfuscation Objects and people in the background of images are replaced with an outline of the object.
Experimental: Cartoon obfuscation Blurring is applied to objects and people in the background of images and the wearer's face is concealed with cartoon faces.	Device: Cartoon Obfuscation Blurring is applied to objects and people in the background of images and the wearer's face is concealed with cartoon faces.
Experimental: Raw images No editing is performed on images.	Device: Raw images No editing is performed on images.

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

Mean Wear Time [7 days]
Average duration in minutes of data collected per day, calculated from video time stamps

Secondary Outcome Measures

Acceptability [7 days]
Score (0-80) obtained from User Burden Scale (Suh. et al 2016), collected post-study

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:

18 Years to 64 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

Yes

Inclusion Criteria:

BMI 30 or greater
Chicago Metro Area resident
Able to speak, read, and write in English
Valid phone number
Smartphone ownership
Have Wi-Fi at home

Exclusion Criteria:

15% or greater weight change in last 3 months
Medication related weight gain
Genetic obesity syndrome (e.g., Prader-Willi, Bardet-Biedl, Cohen Syndrome)
Member of household enrolled in study

Contacts and Locations

Locations

	Site	City	State	Country	Postal Code
1	Northwestern University Department of Preventive Medicine	Chicago	Illinois	United States	60611

Sponsors and Collaborators

Northwestern University
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Investigators

None specified.

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

None provided.

Responsible Party:

Nabil Alshurafa, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:

NCT05547425

Other Study ID Numbers:

STU00213549
1R03DK127128-01

First Posted:

Sep 21, 2022

Last Update Posted:

Sep 21, 2022

Last Verified:

Sep 1, 2022

Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:

Plan to Share IPD:

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Drug Product:

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated Device Product:

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Sep 21, 2022