Bowel Sound Monitoring with Wearable Devices for Ecological Momentary Assessment： Progress and Prospect
10.11714/jsysu.med.YX20260042
- VernacularTitle:可穿戴设备生态瞬时评估肠鸣音的研究进展及展望
- Author:
Yuping CHEN
1
;
Hongying PAN
1
Author Information
1. Nursing Department， Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital， Zhejiang University School of Medicine， Hangzhou 310016， China
- Publication Type:Review
- Keywords:
bowel sounds;
ecological momentary assessment;
wearable devices;
gastrointestinal motility;
precision health monitoring
- From:
Journal of Sun Yat-sen University(Medical Sciences)
2026;47(4):636-643
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Bowel sounds are important acoustic physiological signals that reflect gastrointestinal motility and have significant clinical value in the evaluation of postoperative ileus， intestinal obstruction， and inflammatory bowel diseases. Conventional auscultation is highly subjective and often irreproducible， making continuous and objective monitoring difficult. With advances in microelectronics and signal processing technologies， wearable devices have enabled long-term， dynamic， and noninvasive acquisition of bowel sound signals. Meanwhile， ecological momentary assessment （EMA）， characterized by real-time and repeated data collection of individual behaviors and physiological states in realistic situations， provides a novel methodological framework to overcome the limitations of momentary bowel sound monitoring and to facilitate context-based interpretation. This review systematically summarizes the development of wearable bowel sound monitoring technologies， outlining three stages of the technological evolution stationary acquisition， dedicated portable systems， and wearable long-term monitoring. The clinical application value of bowel sound monitoring in multiple scenarios， including irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel diseases， is also discussed. Furthermore， the theoretical framework of EMA is introduced for the first time in the field of bowel sound monitoring， and its potential value， application scenarios， and methodological challenges are explored. The integration of wearable technology with the EMA framework may provide a theoretical basis for constructing an，individualized long-term gastrointestinal motility monitoring system with high ecological validity， to optimize postoperative care， improve home management of chronic gastrointestinal diseases， and advance precision health monitoring. Future efforts should focus on key issues such as equipment standardization， clinical validation， and algorithmic interpretability to accelerate progress in this field.
