Does Rob ter Horst not harm the scientific community by testing smartwatches & not choosing methods at the highest level as for instance treadmill protocols up to 15 km/h & test smartwatches against clinical & research grade 3 channel ECG devices?

Last Updated on April 25, 2024 by pg@petergamma.org

Is it not also for scientists difficult to find out how accurate smartwatches are? The optical heart rate monitors of smartwatches or sensors as the Polar H10 where described by sports watch reviewers as very accurate if not most accurate heart rate monitors. But where have we scientific validation papers which proof this? Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org wrote a review about accuracy validation papers of consumer grade heart rate monitors:

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

And if we look for instance at the testing protocols:

90.3 Summary of the testing protocols of different studies

we can see that these accuracy validation papers do not use standardized testing protocols. So how can we then compare data from one paper to the other? Since no one used standardized testing protocols, can we not conclude that basically no one seems to be interested in such validation studies? But all the same, is it not helpful to know exactly this? And does this not mean that smartwatches are not validated scientifically in accuracy validation papers, since no one does this on a regular basis?

And is it now really necessary that a post-doctoral scientist tests smartwatches on YouTube, and again leaves the impression that these smartwatches are super highly accurate?

But Rob ter Horst tests smartwatches against a Polar H10 chest strap with a testing procedure which he does not publish. Is this not a step back after from where scientists already where with their papers? Instead of bringing transparency into smartwatch accuracy validation, it is again obscured by not publishing the testing protocols and not choosing reference devices at the highest level for all activities.

Testing protocols at the highest level have been chosen here:

1490. Things scientists & medical doctors need to know about smartwatch accucacy tests: Rob ter Horst, YouTube video maker of the YouTube channel “The Quantified Scientist” versus Milind Desai, Cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio

And who believes that Rob ter Horst could not choose a better and more transparent testing procedure, but choosing for instance a treadmill protocol up to about 15 km/h and 3 channel ECG devices for this tests. By not doing this, does he not again obscure smartwatch accuracy validation, by leaving the impression that these are highly accurate heart rate sensors tested by a postdoctoral scientist?

And for whom are Rob ter Horsts scientific tests interesting? For smartwatch seller, but not for people who want to know the truth.

And the next scientists who want to know the truth has to continue where the cardiologists of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio stopped testing, after they testes smartwatches against 3 channel ECG devices for runs on a treadmill up to about 15 km/h. These data can be reproduced and compared to data from other papers, but not the data Rob ter Horst publishes on YouTube.