Wearable devices for neurophysiological evaluation during real working-like tasks: a reliability study

Nowadays, human errors in working environments are among the significant causes of nonfatal and fatal work-related accidents. Therefore, the worker’s monitoring and, in particular, the Human Factors (HFs) evaluation plays a crucial role in preventing work-related accidents and in increasing safety in working environments. The present study aimed at assessing the reliability of a specific set of wearable devices, the Empatica E4 and the Muse 2, in the Eye Blinks Rate (EBR), Skin Conductance Level (SCL), and Heart Rate (HR) estimation while performing real working-like tasks. In scientific literature, it is largely demonstrated the effectiveness of monitoring such HFs through specific neurophysiological signals’ evaluation. Still, it is also known as the traditional laboratory sensors that imply a certain grade of invasiveness, which could negatively interfere with the worker’s performance. The results demonstrated that the wearable devices are reliable as the laboratory technologies for the EBR, SCL, and HR estimation, especially when the time resolution is between 1 and 3 minutes, confirming the possibility of HFs evaluation interfering at minimum the worker’s activities.