What is Signal Quality?

Signal Quality & Artifacts

Signal Quality refers to how "clean" or true the RR data is as captured by your heart rate monitor.

Signal quality issues can come from biological (ectopic beats, arrhythmia) or technological (movement, signal interference) sources. These are referred to as artifacts or false heartbeats.

Artifact Correction

Because of the high degree of accuracy needed to calculate a valid HRV, signal quality is very important. Luckily, we analyze your raw RR data using well-researched and tested methods to detect these artifacts and then correct them so that the calculated HRV values are more accurate and valid. 

Signal Quality Rating

As the number of artifacts present in a measurement increases (even those that are corrected), the accuracy of the HRV result decreases. 

The simple Signal Quality Rating lets you know when your measurement quality is Good, Fair, or Poor and if your HRV results may be skewed due to too much signal corruption or if your heart rate monitor is altering or smoothing the RR intervals. 

Good = A good signal quality indicates minimal artifacts were detected and the measurement data is ideal for providing reliable biomarker and insights results.

Okay = An okay signal quality indicates an acceptable number of artifacts were detected and the measurement data can provide reliable biomarker and insights results.

Poor = A poor signal quality indicates a substantial number of artifacts were detected and the measurement data is sub-optimal for providing reliable biomarker and insights results. We recommend deleting a reading that has poor signal quality.

Improving Signal Quality

The most common cause of poor signal quality is movement artifacts that cause false spikes in heartbeats. 

To reduce these artifacts when using a CorSense:

1. Limit movement during measurement
2. Try a different reading position or reading finger
3. Ensure CorSense is well-charged
4. Manually reset the CorSense (plug and unplug from power 4 times in a row)

To reduce these artifacts when using a chest strap:

1. Limit movement during measurement
2. Ensure the chest strap is moist
3. Ensure the strap is tightened appropriately
4. Check and replace worn-out chest straps
5. Check and replace HR monitor batteries that are low
6. Remove residual charge that has built up in the HR monitor