JEWISH WORLD

By ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN D istinct from hundreds of quit smoking-cessation apps already available, SmokeBeat is the first to detect smoking in real time based on hand-to-mouth gestures picked up by sensors built into smartwatches and wristbands. “Physicians tell us they’re excited that they now have the possibility to apply immediate interventions based on what the patient is doing in real time,” says Eran Ofir, co- founder and CEO of Somatix. In addition to remote monitoring for the clinician, SmokeBeat uses principles of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to send out financial, emotional, rational and social incentives most likely to motivate behavioral changes in the individual user, tailored with the help of machine learning and big-data ana- lytics. For example, if the cost of ciga- rettes is of most concern to you, SmokeBeat will emphasize how much your habit busts your budget and how much you’d save by cut- ting back. Users can see and sort smoking statistics and alerts, set goals, com- pare progress to others and receive credits and incentives. Once the clinical data from pilots is validated in early 2018, Somatix plans to market SmokeBeat to employee-benefits programs (which are offered by 86 percent of U.S. employers), outpatient clinics and insurance companies as a tool to improve compliance with pre- scribed cessation therapies. “Half of the insurance companies in the U.S. are utilizing wearable devices to offer dynamic pricing to customers,” Ofir tells ISRAEL21c. “They reduce your premium based on your health habits, even giving the wearables for free so they can monitor and help their customers lead a healthier lifestyle.” Individuals already can down- load the app on iOS or Android even if they’re not involved in a smoking-cessation program. “There won’t be a clinician mon- itoring your progress in that case, but we have found, as psychologists working with us predicted, that just the mindfulness effect of the app causes a decrease of 15% to 20% of smoking volume,” says Ofir. “Applying CBT techniques adds another 40%. “When you place data in front of people about howmuch they actual- ly smoke and the financial cost and health cost, without any external intervention we see people reducing their smoking volume.” Results of the first pilot study of SmokeBeat recently were published in the Oxford University Press jour- nal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. The 40-person study, led by Prof. Reuven Dar of Tel Aviv University’s School of Psychological Sciences, showed that monitoring and notifying smokers about smoking episodes immediately via the SmokeBeat app led to a significant reduction in smoking volume. “We were impressed with the results,” said Dar. “The SmokeBeat algorithm detected correctly more than 80% of the smoking episodes and produced very few false alarms.” The Somatix BMD (body motion detection) software platform will power additional products. “In early 2018 we will soft- launch SafeBeing, an app for elder- care for which we already have orders pending,” says Ofir. “All you need is an off-the-shelf smartwatch or wristband and we can tell remotely how much the individual is walking, drinking, sleeping, smoking, taking medica- tions, and other activities. The sys- tem can notify the caregiver and geolocate a person who gets lost. This unique product can help deter- mine deterioration or improvement in functionality of the elderly per- son.” T he BMD platform was devel- oped by co-founder Uri Schatzberg, now Chief Technology Office of the company. At first, he was not sure how to apply his inven- tion, which takes raw data from sen- sors in wearables and processes and analyzes that data to detect move- ment indicating that the person is eating, shaving, brushing teeth, tak- ing medication, smoking, and so on. “We thought it could be useful in healthcare, especially for activities of daily living (ADL) evaluations and for addictions such as smok- ing,” says Ofir. “So we built the MVP [minimum viable product] for smoking and to make it very special we worked with Prof. Dar and others at Pennsylvania and Yale universities to do the clini- cal evaluation. We took methodolo- gies of CBT and translated them into machine-learning algorithms.” A merican and international sta- tistics show 50% of smokers are trying to quit but only 7% suc- ceed permanently, Ofir says. JEWISH WORLD • JANUARY 26 - FEBRUARY 1, 2018 21 Now, An App To Help Quit Smoking New Israeli devices monitors tobacco habit continued on page 28 REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK Smokers in the United States, Canada, France, Israel and Turkey are participating in trials to quit the habit with the help of an Israeli app.called SmokeBeat from Somatix. The SmokeBeat device is said to be the first to detect smoking in real-time based on hand-to-mouth gestures. The SmokeBeat app compares the user’s progress to others.