Prelims 2019 · Q95
EasyIn the context of wearable technology, which of the following tasks is/are accomplished by wearable devices?
- 1.Location identification of a person
- 2.Sleep monitoring of a person
- 3.Assisting the hearing impaired person
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) 1, 2 and 3
All three tasks are done by wearable devices. Wrist-worn trackers and watches with GPS locate the wearer, their motion sensors estimate sleep patterns, and worn hearing aids help people with hearing loss.
- ✓ 1. WHO describes global positioning system locators that track the location of the wearer, used for example to find people with dementia who wander. Some fitness wearables also carry a built-in GPS receiver that records position, speed and altitude.
- ✓ 2. WHO notes that wrist- or hip-worn accelerometers give continuous data on physical activity and potentially sleep; accelerometer-based fitness wearables can estimate sleep patterns, along with steps and energy use.
- ✓ 3. Hearing aids are among the assistive products WHO prioritises to mitigate hearing loss, and they are worn on or in the ear, so wearable devices can assist the hearing impaired.
Remember · Wearables include GPS trackers (location), fitness bands and watches (sleep, activity) and hearing aids: all three tasks are covered.
Sources
- WHO, Brief 11: Technologies for promoting healthy ageing (GPS locators) ↗ “Global positioning system locators can track the location of the wearer. Such devices help locate people if they wander, for example, among people with dementia … Hearing aids, magnifiers and spectacles are products that can mitigate vision and hearing loss and enable older people to perform everyday tasks and activities.”
- WHO, Measuring physical activity in adults using wearable technologies (report of a technical meeting): accelerometers and sleep ↗ “wearable devices such as wrist- or hip-worn accelerometers offer more accurate and continuous data on physical activity and sedentary behaviour (and potentially sleep, too).”
- Henriksen et al., Using Fitness Trackers and Smartwatches to Measure Physical Activity in Research, JMIR mHealth and uHealth 2018 (NIH PMC copy), on GPS ↗ “some devices have a built in global positioning system (GPS) receiver. This is especially true for high-end fitness trackers and sports watches specifically targeting physically active people. With a GPS, it is possible to track more data, including position, speed, and altitude. … can be used to estimate type of movement, count steps, calculate energy expenditure (EE) and energy intensity, as well as estimate sleep patterns and more.”
- WHO fact sheet, Deafness and hearing loss ↗ “Interventions for rehabilitation for people with hearing loss include: the provision of, and training in the use of, hearing technologies (e.g. hearing aids, cochlear implants, bone conduction implants and middle ear implants)”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). Permalink ·