AirCase: Earable Charging Case with Air Quality Monitoring and Soundscape Sonification

Abstract

Bad air quality and insufficient ventilation can have severe impacts on personal health. We present AirCase, a smart earable charging case that measures CO2, volatile organic compounds, humidity, air pressure, temperature, and light intensity. The case powers both the air quality system and the earables. We also propose a model-driven air quality soundscape sonification strategy based on the audio capabilities of the earables. AirCase detects conditions unsuitable for measuring air quality (e.g., in pocket) in an office environment at 98.2 % accuracy with a simple classifier based on a single feature. We identified light intensity as the primary indicator to recognize occlusion. In contrast, the speed of the micro ventilator used to increase airflow inside the case did not offer any predictive value. In the future, we hope to see more researchers explore the hidden potential of the new platform.