PMID- 29474387
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20180522
LR  - 20240313
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 13
IP  - 2
DP  - 2018
TI  - Mobile phones as monitors of personal exposure to air pollution: Is this the 
      future?
PG  - e0193150
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0193150 [doi]
LID - e0193150
AB  - Mobile phones have a large spectrum of applications, aiding in risk prevention 
      and improving health and wellbeing of their owners. So far, however, they have 
      not been used for direct assessment of personal exposure to air pollution. In 
      this study, we comprehensively evaluated the first, and the only available, 
      mobile phone-BROAD Life-equipped with air pollution sensors (PM2.5 and VOC), to 
      answer the question whether this technology is a viable option in the quest of 
      reducing the burden of disease to air pollution. We tested its performance, 
      applicability and suitability for the purpose by subjecting it to varied 
      concentrations of different types of aerosol particles (cigarette smoke, petrol 
      exhaust and concrete dust) and formaldehyde under controlled laboratory 
      conditions, as well as to ambient particles during field measurements. Six 
      reference instruments were used in the study: AEROTRAK Optical Particle Counter 
      (OPC model number 9306), DustTrak, Aerodynamic Particle Counter (APS), Scanning 
      Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS), Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM) 
      and Formaldehyde Analyser. Overall, we found that the phone's response was linear 
      at higher particle number concentrations in the chamber, above 5 and 10 mug m-3, 
      for combustion and concrete dust particles, respectively, and for higher 
      formaldehyde concentrations, making it potentially suitable for applications in 
      polluted environments. At lower ambient concentrations of particles around 10 ug 
      m-3 and 20 mug m-3 for PM2.5 and PM10, respectively, the phone's response was 
      below its noise level, suggesting that it is not suitable for ambient monitoring 
      under relatively clean urban conditions. This mobile phone has a number of 
      limitations that may hinder its use in personal exposure and for continuous 
      monitoring. Despite these limitations, it may be used for comparative 
      assessments, for example when comparing outcomes of intervention measures or 
      local impacts of air pollution sources. It should be kept in mind, however, that 
      a mobile phone measuring air quality alone cannot as such 'reduce the burden of 
      disease to air pollution, as knowing ambient concentrations is only one of the 
      building block in this quest. As long as individuals cannot avoid exposure e.g. 
      in urban areas, knowing concentrations is not sufficient to reduce potential 
      adverse effects. Yet, there are many situations and microenvironments, which 
      individuals could avoid knowing the concentrations and also being aware of the 
      risk caused by exposure to them. This includes for example to proximity to 
      vehicle emissions, either for social purposes (e.g. street cafes) or exercising 
      (e.g. walking or jogging along busy roads)or indoor environments affected by 
      combustion emissions (smoking, candle burning, open fire).
FAU - Nyarku, Mawutorli
AU  - Nyarku M
AD  - International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of 
      Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
FAU - Mazaheri, Mandana
AU  - Mazaheri M
AD  - International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of 
      Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
FAU - Jayaratne, Rohan
AU  - Jayaratne R
AD  - International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of 
      Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
FAU - Dunbabin, Matthew
AU  - Dunbabin M
AD  - School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Institute for Future 
      Environments, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
FAU - Rahman, Md Mahmudur
AU  - Rahman MM
AD  - International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of 
      Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
FAU - Uhde, Erik
AU  - Uhde E
AD  - Material Analysis & Indoor Chemistry, Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, 
      Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, Germany.
FAU - Morawska, Lidia
AU  - Morawska L
AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-0594-9683
AD  - International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of 
      Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
LA  - eng
SI  - Dryad/10.5061/dryad.2b879
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20180223
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
SB  - IM
MH  - Air Pollution/*analysis
MH  - *Cell Phone
MH  - *Environmental Exposure
MH  - *Environmental Monitoring/instrumentation/methods
MH  - Humans
MH  - *Mobile Applications
PMC - PMC5825064
COIS- Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
EDAT- 2018/02/24 06:00
MHDA- 2018/05/23 06:00
PMCR- 2018/02/23
CRDT- 2018/02/24 06:00
PHST- 2017/08/02 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2018/02/04 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2018/02/24 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2018/02/24 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2018/05/23 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2018/02/23 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-17-28800 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0193150 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2018 Feb 23;13(2):e0193150. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0193150. 
      eCollection 2018.