Pain signaling with physiological data for persons with communication difficulties: A pilot study of the Pain App

Abstract

Pain is a common occurrence in life. For some groups of people expressing, communicating, and seeking pain relief is not possible, due to age, illness, disability, or unconsciousness. To support caregivers, pain detection through physiological measures can be a solution. Currently, an algorithm for an application indicating arousal according to electrodermal changes has been developed and tested. Pain is unique to every person, so new research and algorithm development are necessary to assess which measurable signals coincide with pain. A mobile application utilising such algorithms would allow caregivers to better attend to the patients' needs in daily practice. This study aims to develop an application that can signal pain for caregivers of persons with communication difficulties and examine whether utilizing this software solution, pain can be reliably detected in an experimental setting. Visual analysis of plotted results from a pilot study indicates that within the same person pain shows significant deviation from relaxation and neutral experiences. Further research is needed to examine the reliability of pain detection.