If you are wondering why the word ‘hear’ is highlighted in the title of this blog post, it has something to do with a post on the New Scientist website about a new blood alcohol testing device. A group of students at a university in Japan have created a device that can measure the amount of alcohol in your blood based on, yes, you guessed it, the skin of your ears.
Students have created the new blood alcohol testing device at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and it comes in the form of ear defenders. They are modified for a stream of air to blow either in or out of them, and the air coming out is sent to an ethanol vapour sensor.
When they conducted a test on three men who wore the ear defenders for 140 minutes and who all consumed an alcoholic drink, they found that the device did show alcohol levels the same way a breathalyzer would; however, it came with a 13-minute delay.
And so, in conclusion, they found that if ear defenders are the device being used to measure blood alcohol concentration (BAC) where someone is under suspicion of drinking and driving, the defenders need to be worn for at least 30 seconds. There also needs to be nothing blocking the person’s ears to get an accurate reading.
According to the New Scientist’s article, where they spoke to the team, the original idea was to look at how BAC could be measured through the plan of a person’s hand. However, that proved to have several things working against it, including the large area of a hand, paired with sweaty palms. With all the unpredictable variables, it would be too hard to get an accurate reading.
New blood alcohol testing device offers a solution
The idea behind such skin BAC reading devices is that with a breathalyzer, it is required that a person blows into the device for several seconds for it to get an accurate reading. This can be a bit hard for some people, so if you eliminate the challenges and replace them with a set of ear defenders, it makes a BAC reading that much easier.
There is no saying when and if these new devices will reach Canada and whether police will use them to test a person’s BAC, but it is an interesting tool to consider. It makes you wonder what body part will be next on the list of ways to get a read on the amount of alcohol a person has consumed.