Is there a scientific study which could be performed to answer the open questions we mentioned regarding accuracy studies of consumer grade heart rate monitors?

Last Updated on December 8, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org

We have discussed these open question here:

Which are the most accurate heart rate monitors for different activities?

If we look at the review of the MRIS about this topic:

090. Review of Accuracy Studies of Consumer Grade Heart Rate Monitors: Methods, Testing Protocols, Reference Devices

we can see that one of the issues of validation papers about consumer grade heart rate monitors are the many testing protocols which deliver data which cannot be compared to each other:

90.3 Summary of the testing protocols of different studies

A possible solution to resolve this issue would be to choose only one simple testing protocol for all the investigated sensors to start with, for instance a treadmill protocol which start from zero to maximal speed.

A further issue is a missing generally accepted highly accurate reference device. It is hard to believe that it is not possible to beat or to reach the same accuracy of a the Polar H10 chest strap with a 3 channel ECG device if intense activities with strong body movements are investigated

The g.tec medical support wrote us some time ago that they do not know of a manufacturer who has solved the problem of ECG motion artifact. But if a manufacturer appears on the market who can offer a device which can be used as a 3 channel ECG reference to study the accuracy of consumer grade heart rate monitors this problem would be solved.

A scientific study which compares the accuracy of:

1. A 3 channel ECG refernce device with algorithms which can handle with noisy ECG signals such as HeartPy or active alectrodes (g.tec medical offers active electrodes which are very expensive).
2. The latest chest strap from Polar.
3. The latest Apple watch.
4. And further heart rate monitors of interest.

Could answer many of the open questions we mentioned.