Are false alerts possible or does a Heart Rate (HR) or Oxygen Saturation Levels (SpO2) alert always mean that something is wrong with your child?

Neebo’s Heart rate and SpO2 alerts occur if a vital sign leaves its “Reference range”. You will receive a visual and a sound alert. You can read more on how reference ranges are set here and about how alerts differ here.

To gather Heart rate and SpO2 measurements Neebo uses Photoplethysmography (PPG), the same technology which Pulse oximeters in hospitals use. This illuminates the skin and measures changes in light absorption by blood cells. The main disadvantage of this technology is sensitivity to any kind of movement, ambient light, a loose band that means sensors become separated from the skin, skin surface condition, etc.

Here are the situations, which might cause false Heart Rate and SpO2 alerts:

• Uncomfortable position of the arm, leading to it becoming numb. This condition ALWAYS affects blood circulation leading to disturbance in readings.  
• Your child is lying on Neebo pressing the sensors against the skin, which affects the signal gathered by the sensors. 
• Your child's actual Heart Rate or SpO2 often stays at the edge of the Reference Range. However, taking into account the discrepancy of around 3%, the norm even for medical devices, this brings the measured Heart Rate or SpO2 values outside the Reference Range.
• Your child's skin under the sensors is either wet or oily, which affects their performance and accuracy as liquids often disturb the signal gathered from the skin.

We recommend following the below advice in order to decrease false alerts from your Neebo device:

• Change your child’s position, if you see their hand is held unnaturally or move your child so Neebo is not pressed against their wrist.
• Make sure you maintain/use Neebo as is described here.
• Make sure your Neebo device is placed correctly as is described here.
• You may also try to adjust the reference range for vitals if you notice that the value often drops below the reference range by a small amount for a moment.

You may also be interested to read about potential false alerts for Neebo’s Thermal state feature here.