BACtrack
TypePrivate
IndustryConsumer Electronics
Founded2001
FounderKeith Nothacker
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, USA
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsBACtrack S80, BACtrack Mobile,BACtrack S75, BACtrack Element,BACtrack Vio,BACtrack S35,BACtrack Go Keychain.
Websitewww.bactrack.com

BACtrack is a brand of portable breathalyzers owned by KHN Solutions.[1][2] It is headquartered in San Francisco, California.[2]

Company history

BACtrack was founded by Keith Nothacker in 2001, during his senior year at the University of Pennsylvania, when he began selling consumer products online.

In 2004, BACtrack received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) marketing clearance to sell the AlcoMate CA2000 breathalyzer.[3] BACTrack was among the first companies to sell breathalyzers to the general public for personal use that year.[4]

BACtrack Mobile Smartphone Breathalyzer

The BACtrack Mobile Smartphone Breathalyzer is a pocket-size breathalyzer that pairs with smartphones and other smart devices via an app and Bluetooth LE, producing an estimate of blood alcohol content (BAC). Results are displayed on the smart device or smartphone screen.[5] Released on April 23, 2013, the device was the first smartphone-connected breathalyzer available for commercial purchase.[6]

The accuracy of BACtrack Mobile was independently tested and found to be comparable to law enforcement breath alcohol testers.[7] The results of one such study were published in the Journal of Injury Prevention.[7]

Awards

The BACtrack Mobile Smartphone Breathalyzer won a Popular Science "Best of What’s New Award" as a breakthrough technology in the Health Category for 2013.[8]

BACtrack Mobile and BACtrack Keychain received Car and Driver's highest rating in an industry-wide comparison in March 2014.[9]

BACtrack Consumption Report

In June, 2014, BACtrack released the BACtrack Consumption Report an aggregation of drinking data and alcohol consumption patterns compiled from users of the BACtrack Mobile Smartphone Breathalyzer.[10]

The data were compiled over the course of a year and represent more than 100,000 alcohol tests taken in over 35 countries, and in all 50 US States. Some of the information in the report includes average blood alcohol content by city and state.[11]

BACtrack View

BACtrack demonstrated the first smartphone-based remote alcohol monitoring system at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show.[12] BACtrack View uses the front facing camera of an iOS or Android phone to record a user blowing to BACtrack Mobile. The user's BAC result, along with the date, time, and location, are sent in real time to another user for monitoring.

BACtrack Skyn

On May 19, 2016, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) announced that BACtrack won first prize in the Wearable Alcohol Biosensor Challenge.[13] The Wearable Alcohol Biosensor Challenge, issued through Challenge.gov in March 2015, called for non-invasive wearable technology that could improve upon existing alcohol biosensor technology used in the criminal justice system. An improved alcohol biosensor could be a valuable resource for the alcohol research community, decreasing reliance on participant self-report in scientific studies.

BACtrack's winning entry, called BACtrack Skyn, is worn on the wrist and measures transdermal alcohol content. Results are transmitted continuously over Bluetooth to a smartphone app.[14] In 2023, an external team of university researchers validated and published open-source code that can be used to model alcohol drinking in research studies using transdermal alcohol data collected from BACtrack Skyn devices.[15]

References

  1. ↑ Fenn, Donna. "30 Under 30". Inc. Archived from the original on 11 October 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  2. 1 2 Comstock, Jean. "Six attempts at a smartphone-connected breathalyzer". MobiHealthNews. Archived from the original on 2014-03-17.
  3. ↑ "510(k) Premarket Notification". www.accessdata.fda.gov. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  4. ↑ Anderson, Jon R. (29 March 2013). "What you need to know about the breathalyzer". Military Times. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  5. ↑ McGrath, Michael J. (2013). Sensor technologies: healthcare, wellness and environmental applications. Berkeley: Apress. pp. 243–244. ISBN 978-1-4302-6013-4.
  6. ↑ Carr, Austin (22 April 2013). "Can BACtrack become the Nike Fuelband for Alcoholics?". Fast Company. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  7. 1 2 Delgado, M. Kit; Huang, Yanlan; Wanner, Kathryn; Goldberg, Erica; Hemmons, Jessica; Spencer, Evan; Wetherill, Regan (2017-09-01). "39 Test accuracy of smartphone-paired breathalysers: a validation study". Injury Prevention. 23 (Suppl 1): A15. doi:10.1136/injuryprev-2017-042560.39. ISSN 1353-8047. S2CID 80570513.
  8. ↑ Kaplan, Sam. "Best of What's New". Popular Science. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  9. ↑ Roe, John (18 March 2014). "Ethanol Fueled: Four Handheld Breathalzyers Tested for Accuracy". CarAndDriver.com. Car and Driver. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  10. ↑ Gayomali, Chris (11 June 2014). "Not Drunk? Must Be Tuesday. Here's When We Drink Alcohol, According To BACTrack". fastcompany.com. Fast Company. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  11. ↑ Scutti, Susan (11 June 2014). "Like Alcohol? BACtrack's National Intoxication Report Tells You Which Cities (And States) Drink The Most". MedicalDaily.com. Medical Daily. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  12. ↑ "Medgadget @ CES 2018: BACtrack View Breathalyzer for Watching Over Loved Ones |". Medgadget. 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2018-05-03.
  13. ↑ "NIAAA selects winners of its Wearable Alcohol Biosensor Challenge". National Institutes of Health (NIH). 2016-05-18. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  14. ↑ "BACtrack Skyn™ | World's 1st Wearable Alcohol Tracker". BACtrack. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  15. ↑ Kianersi, Sina; Ludema, Christina; Agley, Jon; Ahn, Yong‐Yeol; Parker, Maria; Ideker, Sophie; Rosenberg, Molly (2023-05-30). "Development and validation of a model for measuring alcohol consumption from transdermal alcohol content data among college students". Addiction. 118 (10): 2014–2025. doi:10.1111/add.16228. ISSN 0965-2140. PMID 37154154. S2CID 258567341.
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