Embrace is optimized to detect patterns that may be associated with convulsive seizures. Some types of activity that you engage in during the day may seem like a possible convulsive seizure to the Embrace when they are really not. This is called a false alarm, some examples of activities that could cause a false alarm include, but are not limited to:
- On the road: riding a car or bike on a bumpy surface.
- In the bathroom: brushing your teeth
- In the kitchen: grating cheese, beating eggs, or chopping vegetables.
False alarms due to stimming
Stimming (used to describe repetitive movements, typically in autism) and seizures can sometimes create similar motion and EDA patterns, and therefore may result in false alarms.
The type of movement can vary a lot from person to person. In examples published in our work in Epilepsia (Poh et al. 2012), stimming did cause false alarms for some people.
How to cancel an alert
When Embrace detects a possible convulsive seizure, it vibrates and a red spinning light shows on the watch surface. If it is a false alarm, or you wouldn’t like to notify your caregiver, you have 15 seconds to cancel the alarm.
There are two methods to cancel: via the Alert App or by tapping the Embrace cover with a special pattern.
Canceling Alerts in the Alert App
You will receive a notification on your phone that a seizure was detected. Tap on the message to open up the Alert App. Once you are in the app, you just need to tap on Cancel Alert.
You should then receive a message letting you know the alert has been cancelled, and the alert will then appear in the Alerts tab under Alerts to be reviewed.
Canceling Alerts by tapping Embrace
First, double-tap Embrace's surface. A blue circle will appear showing that the cancellation attempt has started. Then, to confirm the cancellation, touch the watch surface again and don’t release the finger until you see a green circle.
The cancelled alert will be automatically added the Alerts to be reviewed section.
Notify Caregivers that you’re OK
If you weren’t able to cancel the false alarm, you can still let your caregivers know that you are OK, so they don't have to worry.
After the alert has been sent, you'll have 5 minutes in which you're able to notify your caregivers that you're okay directly through the app. Just open the app and tap “Send SMS I’m OK”.
We are working to reduce the number of false alarms triggered by the Embrace, and reviewing them will help improve our algorithm in the long run.