Stress in action wearables database: A database of noninvasive wearable monitors with systematic technical, reliability, validity, and usability information

Ambulatory wearable monitoring of human physiology is increasingly utilized in the fields of psychology, movement sciences, and medicine. With the rapid growth of available consumer- and research-oriented wearables, researchers are faced with a multitude of devices to choose from. It is unfeasible timewise for researchers to determine all relevant technical specifications, available signals, signal sampling details, and (raw) data availability, and conduct a search of studies regarding the reliability, validity, and usability of wearables. Thus, selection of wearables for a given study proves highly challenging and will often be unsystematic and uninformed. The 10-year research program Stress in Action initiated a publicly accessible database of wearable ambulatory monitoring devices. We outline the genesis and final structure of the first version of the Stress in Action Wearables Database (SiA-WD) and a summary of the characteristics of the wearables it currently contains. Furthermore, one short-term (2 days) and one long-term (3 months) scenario from the field of stress research are provided with walkthroughs of how the SiA-WD can help select the optimal wearable for a specific research project. Insights gathered include the scarceness of studies testing wearable user-friendliness, inconsistencies in reported validity statistics, and imprecise manufacturer documentation on recorded physiological data such as sampling rate (or window) of signals and parameter extraction. The SiA-WD is the first open-access database to simultaneously include physiological sampling information and technical specifications along with a systematic reliability, validity, and usability search. It will be iteratively expanded to facilitate informed and time-efficient wearable selection. For access to the database, see the following: https://osf.io/umgvp/.