From research labs to real-world experiences, voices across psychiatry, digital health, nutrition, and everyday life are recognizing the impact of the Sense™ Smart Glasses. Equipped with OCOsense™ technology, the glasses are already reshaping how we measure emotions, track eating behaviors, and support well-being.
About Sense™ and OCOsense™
Sense™ is our latest generation of patented smart glasses, designed to help people understand themselves better, from how they feel and focus to how they eat. Powered by OCOsense™, Emteq’s proprietary facial-sensing technology that acts as the “engine” behind the glasses, it can detect subtle facial muscle movements and expressions linked to emotion, stress, and behavior.
Unlike traditional wearables that focus only on heart rate or steps, Sense™ looks inward rather than outward, capturing real-world emotional and behavioral data through tiny, non-intrusive sensors built into the frame. This information is analyzed in real-time to reveal patterns in mood, focus, and eating behavior, helping users and professionals alike gain deeper insight into everyday well-being.
By combining comfort, artificial intelligence, and continuous sensing, Sense™ bridges the gap between research tools and everyday lifestyle wearables, therefore making emotional and behavioral insight accessible beyond the lab.
What follows are perspectives from respected experts, clinicians, and early users:
Industry Thought Leaders
Dr. Walter Greenleaf, Stanford neuroscientist and VR pioneer, sees a paradigm shift in how we measure mind and body:
“What’s exciting me is I think the field of psychology, the field of psychiatry, the field of coaching, the field of learning are all going to be revolutionized by coming up with much more objective measurements and much more precise approaches to both assessments and interventions”.
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Objective, continuous data from wearable sensors such as OCOsense™ is part of this emerging shift toward “precision mental health,” where physiological signals complement traditional questionnaires [1]. This trend aligns with the growing popularity of personalized health, which is likely to become the norm in the years to come.
Professor Hugo Critchley, psychiatrist and neuroscientist at Sussex University, highlighted how new tools are transforming research into practice:
“New technologies that allow one to take some of the research or monitoring from the laboratory into the real world. It’s a dream come true for mind-body research.”
▶ Watch the interview excerpt
His comment reflects a growing body of research that is adapting laboratory-grade emotion-sensing methods, such as facial EMG and Optomyography, for real-world applications [6, 2].
Lord Ara Darzi, surgeon and innovator, sees OCOsense™ as a tool for prevention and empowerment:
“I just cannot imagine a future in which we are treating and preventing obesity by needles and injections. There would definitely be an expansion of the current criteria, but it’s tackling this problem with multiple different prongs of approach. And one of them is what you’re doing, which I think is very, very eloquent.”
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His remarks highlight the shift toward preventive and behavior-driven health technologies, where insights from everyday actions such as eating pace, emotional state, and stress levels help tailor personalized inventions. As healthcare transitions from treatment to prevention, emotion-aware tools like OCOsense™ are poised to complement traditional medicine with pre-emptive monitoring and data-driven support for well-being.
Media Highlights
Recent media coverage has highlighted how our Sense™ smart glasses are reshaping the future of wearable technology by focusing on emotions, awareness, eating behavior, and real behavior rather than just physical metrics.
Wired, a leading voice in technology and innovation, captured the essence of the Sense™ smart glasses design philosophy:
“These smart glasses will peer inward at you rather than outward at the world.”
The observation reflects a shift from outward-facing wearables to self-aware technology that helps users better understand their emotions, habits, and well-being.
Tom’s Guide, a trusted source for consumer tech insights, emphasized the precision and potential of the OCOsense™ system:
“With sensors all around the rims… it can detect the subtlest of changes in your facial expressions (even those you aren’t consciously aware of). With this data… it can become a personalized life coach for your fitness, your diet, and even your emotional health.”
Their review highlights how our Sense™ smart glasses convert subtle facial signals into actionable insights, helping users make meaningful lifestyle changes.
Healthcare IT News recognized its role in bridging medical insight and personal well-being:
“Sense™ Lite’s ability to bridge clinical insight and everyday self-care through emotion-aware sensing.”
This perspective highlights the glasses’ potential to connect clinical research with everyday self-awareness, showing how emotion-aware wearables can support both professionals and individuals in proactive health management.
Emteq Labs takes a different, more radical approach to health and well-being. Unlike conventional wearables that rely on generic and often unreliable measures like heart rate or step count, Sense™ Lite listens to the mind’s own signals, revealing how emotion and behavior shape everyday health.
Healthcare Professionals
For clinicians, OCOsense™ fills long-standing gaps in psychiatry and nutrition research.
Professor James Stone, consultant psychiatrist and neuroscientist, highlighted the link between diet and mood:
“Food intake is clearly related to mental health. In my own work, I’ve been very interested in the role of gut bacteria. We found that when probiotics were added to conventional antidepressants, people improved more quickly in terms of anxiety and depressive symptoms. The gut microbiome is affected by what people eat, and this could be something monitored through the eating behaviors aspect of the glasses.”
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His insight emphasizes how everyday behaviors, such as eating patterns, can reveal underlying connections between nutrition and mental health. By enabling real-world tracking of these behaviors, OCOsense™ offers a new layer of data that could complement traditional mental health assessments.
Professor Martin Yeomans of the University of Sussex, Experimental Psychology, on why objective measures matter:
“Self-report records can be terribly inaccurate. And as soon as you are asking someone to tell you what they’re doing, their behavior changes. So I wanted to be able to measure behavior in a way that was independent of those sorts of external factors.”
▶ View the interview highlight
The professor’s point aligns with decades of research, showing the limitations of dietary self-reports [8, 7] and the urgent need for more objective, sensor-based assessment tools [3,4].
Nutrition Experts
Dietitians were among the first professionals to trial our Sense™ smart glasses, and their response was positive. Across multiple early trials, they saw the glasses as a breakthrough for food-logging accuracy, mindful eating, and client engagement [9, 10].
Turning Behavior into Insight
In internal trials conducted by Emteq Labs, 93% of dietitians reported that data captured by the Sense™ smart glasses, including chewing rate, eating pace, meal timing, and duration, was very or extremely useful for helping clients eat more mindfully (see Figure 1).
The participants, including registered dietitians, nutritionists, and health professionals, viewed the glasses not just as a logging tool but as a way to turn data into real behavior change, helping people slow down, reflect, and build healthier eating habits. Their feedback exhibits real-world experiences of how the technology supports mindful eating, improves logging accuracy, and enhances professional consultations. This aligns with research showing that mindful eating questionnaires alone often fail to capture real-world behavior [5], while sensor-based feedback can meaningfully improve self-awareness and eating pace [3, 4].
Below are insights from the internal trials, shared by participating dietitians, clinicians, and early users:
Amanda Duncan, Registered Nutritionist, on accuracy and client insights:
“This technology can greatly improve the accuracy of meal logging, educate clients on building a healthy plate, and show how mindful eating supports health goals. It also saves nutritionists time by providing accurate insights and tracking real changes in eating behavior — it’s exciting.”
Liz Daeninck, Registered Dietitian, on awareness and pacing:
“Many people eat so mindlessly that they don’t realize how quickly or often they eat. The Sense™ glasses, giving real-time feedback, help build awareness and understanding of eating habits.”
Researchers and nutrition experts who’ve used our Sense™ smart glasses in studies all echoed the same insight: objective data changes everything. Users often forget to report, or simply under-report snacks, but Sense™ does not lie; it quietly notes every bite. That accuracy helps turn guesswork into genuine understanding, making conversations about eating habits more open, honest, and productive [8, 7].
Susan Burry, Nutrition Coach, on everyday support:
“The glasses are like having a mindful-eating personal assistant for every meal.”
Ruth Reynold, Nutritional Therapist, on professional benefit:
“These glasses can transform eating habits — from tracking how people chew to accurately capturing what they eat. The detailed analysis will be a real benefit for Nutritional Therapists in consultations.”
Milena Kaler, Nutritionist and Dietitian, on innovation and engagement:
“An absolute game-changer for nutrition and healthy eating. These glasses could transform the way we approach nutrition, offering a simple and innovative way to monitor eating habits. By integrating AI, they make healthy choices more convenient and engaging.”
The verdict from the experts was clear: Sense™ smart glasses narrow the gap between what people eat and how they eat, bringing mindfulness, objectivity, and simplicity to modern nutrition practice [3].
Real-World Experiences
Experts agree: OCOsense™ generates powerful insights. But what does it feel like to use them in daily life? Early adopters share their stories.
Leia, on accountability in her weight-loss journey:
“I used to fudge my diet logs, but when the glasses showed I chewed 1,200 times one day, I had to face the facts about my snacking. It’s kept me honest and on track.”
Martin, beta tester, on comfort and subtle insights:
“I was surprised that even with all the sensors, the glasses felt just like normal eyewear. I sometimes forgot I had a lab on my face.”
Anna Maria, on solving a digestive puzzle:
“OCOsense™ was the detective I needed for my health mystery – it found the clue in my diet that no one else could.”
Katie Lips, digital health innovator and wellness author, on how mindful eating aligns with OCOsense™:
“Within a very short space of time of practicing these simple mind- and slow-eating tactics, if you like, I was able to eat whatever food I desired but eat it slowly, focus on enjoying it more, and then I would be satisfied way before I used to be satisfied and I could leave it behind and the weight just started dropping off.”
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This combination of comfort and insight mirrors ongoing research showing the feasibility of continuous, real-world monitoring using optomyography [2, 6].
A Shared Vision
From world-leading neuroscientists to clinicians in the field and everyday users, the consensus is clear: OCOsense™ provides objective, continuous measures where self-reports fall short. It empowers users with real-time feedback on mood, stress, and dietary behavior, complementing rather than replacing the expert advice that guides mental health and mindful eating [1].
Professor James Stone, consultant psychiatrist and neuroscientist, on clinical potential:
“These glasses potentially could be used in monitoring response to drug treatments… but they could also be used in the development of new treatments for depression.”
▶ Watch the clip
Final Words
OCOsense™ stands at the intersection of science, technology, and well-being. It connects data with human experience, helping people understand their diet, emotions, habits, and overall well-being, transforming how we connect with our body, mind, and everyday life.
References
[1] Gjoreski, M., Stankoski, S., Kiprijanovska, I., Mavridou, I., Broulidakis, M. J., Cleal, A., Walas, P., Fatoorechi, M., Gjoreski, H., & Nduka, C. (2022). Facial EMG sensing for monitoring affect using a wearable device. Scientific Reports, 12, 16876. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21456-1
[2] Broulidakis, M. J., Kiprijanovska, I., Mavridou, I., Gjoreski, H., Stankoski, S., Cleal, A., Walas, P., Fatoorechi, M., & Nduka, C. (2023). Optomyography-based sensing of facial-expression-derived arousal and valence in adults with depression. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1232433. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1232433
[3] Bell, B. M., Alam, R., Alshurafa, N., Thomaz, E., Mondol, A. S., de la Haye, K., & Spruijt-Metz, D. (2020). Automatic, wearable-based, in-field eating detection: A scoping review. PLOS ONE, 15(6), e0235559. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235559
[4] Wang, L., Allman-Farinelli, M., Yang, J.-A., Taylor, J. C., Gemming, L., Hekler, E., & Rangan, A. (2022). Enhancing nutrition care through real-time, sensor-based capture of eating occasions: A scoping review. Frontiers in Nutrition, 9, 852984. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.852984
[5] Clementi, C., Casu, G., & Gremigni, P. (2017). An abbreviated version of the Mindful Eating Questionnaire. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 49(4), 352-356.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2017.01.016
[6] Archer, J. A., Mavridou, I., Stankoski, S., Broulidakis, M. J., Cleal, A., Walas, P., Fatoorechi, M., Gjoreski, H., & Nduka, C. (2023). OCOsense™ smart glasses for analyzing facial expressions using optomyographic sensors. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 22(3), 53-61. https://doi.org/10.1109/MPRV.2023.3276471
[7] Archer, E., Hand, G. A., & Blair, S. N. (2013). Validity of U.S. nutritional surveillance: Self-report measures of energy intake fail to meet basic scientific standards. PLOS ONE, 8(10), e76632. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0076632
[8] Livingstone, M. B. E., & Black, A. E. (2003). Markers of the validity of reported energy intake. Journal of Nutrition, 133(Suppl 3), 895S-920S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/133.3.895S
[9] Stankoski, S., Kiprijanovska, I., Gjoreski, M., Panchevski, F., Sazdov, B., Sofronievski, B., Cleal, A., Fatoorechi, M., & Nduka, C. (2024). Controlled and real-life investigation of optical tracking sensors in smart glasses for monitoring eating behaviour using deep learning: Cross-sectional study. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 12 :e59469. https://doi.org/10.2196/59469
[10] Baert, C., Sazdov, B., Stankoski, S., Gjoreski, H., Nduka, C., & Jordan, C. (2025). Pilot study to reduce chewing and eating rates using haptic feedback from the OCOsense™ glasses. Appetite, 213, 108056. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2025.108056
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