Arguments happen, they’re an inevitable part of any relationship.
Instead of heading to couples’ counselling session to ail your frustration-filled pairing, however, tech could soon be sent to rescue you.
More specifically, wearables, with scientists developing a way for body-adorning tech to be used to preemptively detect when arguments are about to break out.
Research into the matter has already begun, with a team of scientists at the University of Southern California having kitted couples out in specialist wearables to study rising anger levels.
As well as getting the participants to manually record their feelings towards their other half on an hourly basis, smart tech was used to monitor a range of body-tracking metrics.
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These included body temperature, heart activity and sweat levels. Combined with audio analysis looking at speech intensity and GPS data to show when couples were avoiding each other, all the data was fed into a machine learning system to detect when arguments were occurring.
Having crunched the numbers, the computer set-up was able to identify moments of conflict with a hugely impressive 86% level of accuracy.
With the ability to identify arguments, the data can now be used to determine the body’s reaction and users’ behaviours prior to things kicking off, letting the tech act as an early warning system.
Although not quite there yet, it’s hoped that the findings will soon let your wearable let you know an argument is brewing five minutes before tempers reach breaking point.
It’s currently unclear exactly how your wearable will help calm the tension in such a situation, but features such as the Apple Watch’s Breath tool could aid matters.
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Would you trust your smartwatch to help you sense brewing arguments? Let us know below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
