Blowing, drawing blood, analyzing sweat: There are various ways of determining the alcohol content in the blood. Researchers from Japan have developed another one – which is simpler than any other.
–
Among other things, alcohol can be measured by blowing into a measuring device. It can also be detected in the blood.
Have now Researchers at the Medical and Dental University in Tokyo developed headphones that measure alcohol levels through the ear.
–
Measurement protected in the ear
According to the researchers, the ear is better suited for a measurement because the skin on the auricle has fewer sweat glands compared to other parts of the body. And the skin in the ear canal also excretes the alcohol again in the form of gas. In addition, this area in the ear is better protected from the ambient air than on the hand, which allows the concentration of the alcohol content to be determined more precisely.
–
“The skin in the ear canal also releases the alcohol that we drink as a gas.”
Meike Rosenplänter, Deutschlandfunk Nova reporter
–
The headphones measure the alcohol content in the air through the ear and thereby determine the alcohol concentration in the blood.
For the investigation by the Japanese researchers, three test persons wore the device over their ears for 140 minutes and drank alcohol. Regular breath tests should also check the alcohol content. The headphones showed a similar increase as the breath tests. However, the headphones had a delay of 13 minutes.
–
Police control headphones
According to the researchers, this could be due to the various layers of skin and organs that the gas has to penetrate in the ear – unlike through the breath. The measurement would work more effectively if people only wear the device once, as in a police check. According to the researchers, 30 seconds would be enough for the headphones to calculate the alcohol content in the blood.
–
Your device could thus be an alternative to the tube test that the police currently use. “There are people who cannot do it or at least claim that they cannot,” explains Deutschlandfunk-Nova reporter Meike Rosenplänter. So that they don’t have to have their blood drawn, they could put on the headphones.
–
–
