Development of an Accelerometer-based Wearable Sensor Approach for Alcohol Consumption Detection

Background: Alcohol is a commonly used substance associated with significant public health consequences. Treatment is often stigmatized and limited with regard to both access and affordability, demonstrating the need for innovations in alcohol treatment. Accelerometer sensors can detect drinking without user input and are widely incorporated into wearable devices, increasing accessibility and affordability.

Methods: We compared a distributional and random forest classification approach to detect and evaluate sensor-based drinking data. Data were collected at a local state fair (n = 194), where participants drank water at specified intervals interspersed with confounding behaviors (e.g., touching nose, rubbing forehead, or yawning) while wearing an Android-based smartwatch for 10 min. Participants were randomized to receive one of three drinking container shapes: pint, martini, or wine.

Results: The random forest model achieved an overall testing accuracy of 93% (sensitivity = 0.32; specificity = 0.99; positive predictive value = 0.74). The distributional algorithm achieved an overall accuracy of 95% (sensitivity = 0.76; specificity = 0.97; positive predictive value = 0.72). The distributional algorithm had a significantly greater accuracy (t(193) = 7.73, p < 0.001, d = 0.56) and sensitivity (t(193) = 24.5, p < 0.001, d = 1.76). Equivalency testing demonstrated significant equivalency to the ground truth for sip duration (t(193) = 16.92, p < 0.001; t(193) = -9.85, p < 0.001) and between-sip interval (t(193) = 1.72, p = 0.044; t(193) = -3.96, p < 0.001). However, the random forest did not have significant equivalency to the ground truth for between-sip interval (t(193) = 1.98, p = 0.025; t(193) = 0.160, p = 0.564).

Conclusions: Overall, the results indicated that consumer-grade smartwatches can be utilized to detect and measure alcohol use behavior using machine learning and distributional algorithms. This work provides the methodological foundation for future research to analyze the behavioral pharmacology of alcohol use and develop accessible just-in-time clinical interventions.