Episode Ep 126 May 20, 2026 1 min 43s

Heart Rate Monitoring

From Human Factors Minute Human Factors Cast

Heart rate monitoring is often used to gather real-time data from a user’s physiological response while they are performing tasks on a product or system. This is an important biometric & neuro-measurement tool because it senses unconscious changes in a user’s stress, workload, and drowsiness. Since mental processing like emotional reactions and decision-making happen unconsciously, it offers more insight to how a user’s body is responding to a given situation.

In user studies, if a participant is having trouble completing a task, they might become more emotionally aroused and stressed. Even if they verbally express that they aren’t having much difficulty, heart rate monitoring can provide insight into the actual physiological response during various tasks.

There are a few main methods of gathering data from heart rate monitoring: A PPG, or photoplethysmogram, has an optical sensor which measures discoloration of a user’s skin as blood runs through capillaries and arteries with each heartbeat. The most common PPGs are usually fingertip sensors or wrist bracelets and they are low-cost, not very intrusive, and easy to set up. However, they have more “noise” and “waveform morphology” variation than the other method, electrocardiogram.

Both ECG and EKG reference an electrocardiogram, which directly measures the heart’s electrical activation. It creates different waveform data than a PPG, but it’s the most accurate for real-time heart monitoring. A wearable EKG chest monitor is the most accurate way outside of a hospital setting to gather a user’s heart rate data. The downside to these devices is that they’re typically expensive and more intrusive than a PPG.

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