Abstract
The prevalence of tattoos has increased over the years, and, correspondingly, wearable technology, especially heart rate wearables. The signal from the heart rate wearables may be affected by the permanent ink on the skin because of previous validation studies excluding people with tattoos. PURPOSE: Examine the validity of heart rate monitors on people with arm tattoos. METHODS: 20 participants were recruited for this study. There were three conditions in the study that included heart rate measurements at rest, self-paced walking, and self-paced jogging. The Polar H10 and the Polar Verity Sense armband were used as the heart rate monitors. The participants were equipped with the Polar H10 on their chest. One of the Polar Verity Sense monitors was placed on the skin that had the greatest amount of tattoo coverage. Then the other Polar Verity Sense was placed on the same arm that had no tattoo coverage. The participants then rested for five minutes. Participants performed five minutes of walking and jogging based on their preferred speed, which consisted of three self-paced trails per exercise type. RESULTS: The resting, walking, and jogging conditions had an average Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 23.12%, 8.04%, and 4.95% with the tattoo, while the non-tattoo had a MAPE of 3.46%, 2.69%, and 2.09%. Using the Pearson correlation, only 30% of the 20 participants reached a coefficient of 0.7 while wearing the device over a tattoo during the resting condition, compared to 50% without a tattoo. During the walking and jogging conditions, 30% and 70% of participants with a tattoo reached 0.7, while 45% and 75% of those without tattoo coverage did so under the same conditions. Using Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient, none of the participants (0%) with a tattoo achieved a value of 0.9 at rest, while only 5% of those without tattoos achieved 0.9. While walking, 10% of participants reached 0.9 in both tattoo coverage and no tattoo coverage. During jogging, 55% of participants with a tattoo reached a coefficient of 0.9, compared to 70% without a tattoo. CONCLUSION: Comparing all three conditions, the validity of the wearable sensors is affected, especially in the resting and walking conditions. Findings suggest that tattoos might affect the validity of heart rate readings obtained by wearable sensors.
Recommended Citation
Mejia, Rodolfo I.
(2025)
"Validation of Polar Sense Monitor over Tattooed Skin,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 14:
Iss.
5, Article 29.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol14/iss5/29