The Effect of Optical Crosstalk on Accuracy of Reflectance-Type Pulse Oximeter for Mobile Healthcare

According to the theoretical equation of the pulse oximeter expressed by the ratio of amplitude (AC) and baseline (DC) obtained from the photoplethysmographic signal of two wavelengths, the difference of the amount of light absorbed depending on the melanin indicating the skin color is canceled by normalizing the AC value to the DC value of each wavelength. Therefore, theoretically, skin color does not affect the accuracy of oxygen saturation measurement. However, if there is a direct path for the light emitting unit to the light receiving unit instead of passing through the human body, the amount of light reflected by the surface of the skin changes depending on the color of the skin. As a result, the amount of crosstalk that varies depending on the skin color affects the ratio of AC to DC, resulting in errors in the calculation of the oxygen saturation value. We made crosstalk sensors and crosstalk-free sensors and performed desaturation experiments with respiratory gas control on subjects with various skin colors to perform oxygen saturation measurements ranging from 60 to 100%. Experimental results showed that there was no difference in the measurement error of oxygen saturation according to skin color in the case of the sensor which prevented crosstalk (−0.8824 ± 2.2859 for Asian subjects, 0.6741 ± 3.2822 for Caucasian subjects, and 0.9669 ± 2.2268 for African American subjects). However, a sensor that did not prevent crosstalk showed a large error in dark skin subjects (0.8258 ± 2.1603 for Asian subjects, 0.8733 ± 1.9716 for Caucasian subjects, and −3.0591 ± 3.9925 for African Americans). Based on these results, we reiterate the importance of sensor design in the development of pulse oximeters using reflectance-type sensors.