A new study conducted by scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine demonstrates how a smartphone can be used to measure a person’s drunkenness by how they walk.
The study, led by Dr. Brian Suffoletto and published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs, began by recruiting a group of test subjects aged 21 to 43. During trials in the lab, each person was given 60 minutes to consume a mixed drink that contained enough vodka to ensure a breath alcohol concentration of 0.20%. In the US, the legal breath alcohol concentration is 0.08%.
Then, every hour for the next seven hours, the volunteers performed a task in which they walked straight forward for ten steps, then walked back ten steps and also had their breath alcohol analyzed. As the subjects performed these steps, they wore an elastic belt containing a smartphone situated on their lower back.
As they walked, the smartphone measured how much each participant swayed forward and backward and from side to side via its built-in accelerometer and gyroscope. That data was then compared to pre-recorded baseline measurements of when that person was walking soberly. The results showed that the smartphone was 90% accurate at determining when the participant’s breath alcohol concentration was over 0.08%.
Since most people don’t carry phones on their lower backs, the team’s next steps are to conduct more trials that involve the participants holding the devices in their hands or putting them in their pockets.
Dr. Suffoletto said:
“In five years, I would like to imagine a world in which if people go out with friends and drink at risky levels, they get an alert at the first sign of impairment and are sent strategies to help them stop drinking and protect them from high-risk events like driving, interpersonal violence, and unprotected sexual encounters.”
This smartphone feature might not stop someone who is already drunk from drinking more, but it could potentially prevent them from high-risk situations. Additionally, if the smartphone had the option to inform another user when one is intoxicated, it may come in handy for parents who worry about teenagers getting too drunk when they go out to parties with friends.
