Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering Science, University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Gummersbach, Germany.
Departamento de Ingeniera Informática, Escuela Politecnica Superior, Universidad de Burgos, Burgos, Spain.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2022 Sep 6;10(9):e35727. doi: 10.2196/35727.
Wearables and their benefits for the safety and well-being of users have been widely studied and have had an enormous impact on the general development of these kinds of devices. Yet, the extent of research into the use and impact of wearable devices in the underwater environment is comparatively low. In the past 15 years, there has been an increased interest in research into wearables that are used underwater, as the use of such wearables has steadily grown over time. However, there has so far been no clear indication in the literature about the direction in which efforts for the design and construction of underwater wearable devices are developing. Therefore, the analysis presented in this scoping review establishes a good and powerful basis for the further development and orientation of current underwater wearables within the field.
In this scoping review, we targeted wearable devices for underwater use to make a comprehensive map of their capabilities and features and discuss the general direction of the development of underwater wearables and the orientation of research into novel prototypes of these kinds of devices.
In September 2021, we conducted an extensive search for existing literature on 4 databases and for grey literature to identify developed prototypes and early-stage products that were described and tested in water, could be worn and interacted with (eg, displays, buttons, etc), and were fully functional without external equipment. The studies were written in English, came from peer-reviewed academic sources, and were published between 2005 and 2021. We reviewed each title and abstract. The data extraction process was carried out by one author and verified by another author.
In total, 36 relevant studies were included. Among these, 4 different categories were identified; 18 studies dealt primarily with safety devices, 9 dealt with underwater communication devices, 7 dealt with head-up displays, and 2 dealt with underwater human-computer interaction approaches. Although the safety devices seemed to have gained the most interest at the time of this study, a clear trend toward underwater communication wearables was identified.
This review sought to provide a first insight into the possibilities and challenges of the technologies that have been used in and for wearable devices that are meant for use in the underwater environment. Among these, underwater communication technologies have had the most significant influence on future developments. Moreover, a topic that has not received enough attention but should be further addressed is human-computer interaction. By developing underwater wearables that cover 2 or more of the technology categories that we identified, the extent of the benefits of such devices can be significantly increased in the future.
可穿戴设备及其对用户安全和健康的益处已得到广泛研究，并对这些设备的总体发展产生了巨大影响。然而，水下环境中可穿戴设备的使用和影响的研究程度相对较低。在过去的 15 年中，人们对水下可穿戴设备的研究兴趣日益浓厚，因为随着时间的推移，这类设备的使用稳步增长。然而，文献中尚未明确指出水下可穿戴设备的设计和构建工作的发展方向。因此，本范围综述中的分析为进一步开发和定位当前水下可穿戴设备领域提供了良好而有力的基础。
在本次范围综述中，我们针对水下使用的可穿戴设备，全面绘制了其功能和特点图谱，并讨论了水下可穿戴设备的总体发展方向以及对这些设备新型原型的研究方向。
2021 年 9 月，我们在 4 个数据库和灰色文献中广泛搜索了现有文献，以确定在水中进行描述和测试、可穿戴和交互（例如，显示器、按钮等）、且无需外部设备即可完全正常运行的已开发原型和早期产品。研究以英文撰写，来自同行评议的学术资源，并在 2005 年至 2021 年期间发表。我们对每个标题和摘要进行了审查。数据提取过程由一名作者进行，并由另一名作者进行验证。
共纳入 36 项相关研究。其中，确定了 4 个不同类别；18 项研究主要涉及安全设备，9 项研究涉及水下通信设备，7 项研究涉及抬头显示，2 项研究涉及水下人机交互方法。尽管在本研究进行时，安全设备似乎引起了最大的兴趣，但已确定水下通信可穿戴设备有明显的发展趋势。
本综述旨在首次深入了解已应用于水下环境中可穿戴设备的技术的可能性和挑战。其中，水下通信技术对未来发展的影响最大。此外，一个尚未受到足够关注但应进一步解决的问题是人机交互。通过开发涵盖我们确定的 2 个或更多技术类别的水下可穿戴设备，此类设备的受益程度将来可以大大提高。
