Mobilyze might be able to detect depression using smartphones

The smartphone does seem to get smarter and smarter by the day, where it is not only your office away from the office (ha! no longer does the cliched home away from home works anymore), it can also be used to detect cancer. Well, here is yet another kicker which might make you take the plunge from still carrying that featurephone and settle for a smartphone when your contract runs out – the Mobilyze app. This unique app will, on paper, be able to detect whether one is suffering from depression or not after analyzing data from sensors that come in majority of modern smartphones, including GPS navigation, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, and accelerometers.

The entire idea of Mobilyze is to make use of such data and develop an automated system which can detect people’s moods, making it potentially handy to diagnose folks who are prone to depression, or are in plain denial even though the symptoms clearly show that they are suffering from depression. I do wonder where does the accelerometer come in – when the phone is being thrown across the room in a fit?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: Smartphones