Earinter: A Closed-Loop System for Eating Pace Regulation with Just-in-Time Intervention Using Commodity Earbuds
Jun Fang, Ka I Chan, Xiyuxing Zhang, Yuntao Wang, Mingze Gao, Leyi Peng, Jiajin Li, Zihang Zhan, Zhixin Zhao, Yuanchun Shi

TL;DR
Earinter is a novel system using commodity earbuds to accurately monitor and regulate eating pace in real-world settings through real-time sensing and timely interventions, promoting healthier eating habits.
Contribution
This work introduces Earinter, a new earbud-based closed-loop system that combines in-the-wild sensing, real-time reasoning, and theory-grounded interventions for eating pace regulation.
Findings
Achieved high chewing detection accuracy (F1=0.97).
Accurately estimated eating pace (MAE=0.18 chews/min).
Significantly increased chewing per swallow and reduced eating speed in field study.
Abstract
Rapid eating is common yet difficult to regulate in situ, partly because people seldom notice pace changes and sustained self-monitoring is effortful. We present Earinter, a commodity-earbud-based closed-loop system that integrates in-the-wild sensing, real-time reasoning, and theory-grounded just-in-time (JIT) intervention to regulate eating pace during daily meals. Earinter repurposes the earbud's bone-conduction voice sensor to capture chewing-related vibrations and estimate eating pace as chews per swallow (CPS) for on-device inference. With data collected equally across in-lab and in-the-wild sessions, Earinter achieves reliable chewing detection (F1 = 0.97) and accurate eating pace estimation (MAE: 0.18 0.13 chews/min, 3.65 3.86 chews/swallow), enabling robust tracking for closed-loop use. Guided by Dual Systems Theory and refined through two Wizard-of-Oz pilots,…
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsDysphagia Assessment and Management · Temporomandibular Joint Disorders · Nutritional Studies and Diet
