The electrocardiogram (ECG) provides important information about hear rate and autonomic activity. This report describes a nonrestrictive ECG method using a neckband to position activity. This report describes a nonrestrictive ECG method using a neckband to position activity electrodes on the skin of the neck. The system consists of a dry-type activity electrode, an instrumentation circuit, and a neckband. The dry-type activity electrode is connected to the instrumentation circuit with high input impedance in order to prevent noise contamination. Moreover, this method avoids skin rash since it does not use paste to reduce the impedance between the skin and the electrode.
ECG measurement was performed simultaneously using the conventional limb lead method and the neckband system. ECG measurement was performed for about 8 seconds at rest in each of five healthy adults. Timing of ECG R wave peaks was compared between the two methods, and the difference was found to be less than 3.6 ms. Furthermore, the neckband system was able to detect ECG R waves while walking.
These results show that the neckband system is useful and suggest that it may be appropriate for measuring ECG R waves during activities of daily living.