Make yourself comfortable: Nudging urban heat and noise mitigation with smartwatch-based Just-in-time Adaptive Interventions (JITAI)

2025-01-16

AI Summary

Urban residents frequently experience environmental discomfort due to concurrent heat and noise exposure, yet scalable, personalized interventions remain lacking. Method: We propose a Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention (JITAI) framework deployed on smartwatches, built upon the open-source Cozie platform. It integrates environmental sensing, context-aware rule engines, and individual attributes—including personality traits, gender, and preferences—to deliver dynamic, person-specific nudges. Contribution/Results: Over an 8-month real-world study (N=103), iOS-based micro-surveys yielded >12,000 ecological momentary assessments. JITAI significantly increased proactive coping behaviors: location adjustments for noise reduction (+4–11%), headphone usage (+2–17%), and thermal regulation actions (+3–13%); perceived intervention usefulness also rose by +8–19%. This work represents the first systematic application of JITAI to urban microclimate and noise exposure management, establishing a scalable, personalized technological pathway for built-environment health interventions.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Intelligent User Interfaces
• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Activity and Plan Recognition

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Applied ML and AI for Web-based mobile applications
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web

Abstract

Humans can play a more active role in improving their comfort in the built environment if given the right information at the right place and time. This paper outlines the use of Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAI) implemented in the context of the built environment to provide information that helps humans minimize the impact of heat and noise on their daily lives. This framework builds upon the open-source Cozie iOS smartwatch platform. It includes data collection through micro-surveys and intervention messages triggered by environmental, contextual, and personal history conditions. An eight-month deployment of the method was completed in Singapore with 103 participants who submitted over 12,000 micro-surveys and delivered over 3,600 JITAI intervention messages. A weekly survey conducted during two deployment phases revealed an overall increase in perceived usefulness ranging from 8-19% over the first three weeks of data collection. For noise-related interventions, participants showed an overall increase in location changes ranging from 4-11% and a 2-17% increase in earphone use to mitigate noise distractions. For thermal comfort-related interventions, participants demonstrated a 3-13% increase in adjustments to their location or thermostat to feel more comfortable. The analysis found evidence that personality traits (such as conscientiousness), gender, and environmental preferences could be factors in determining the perceived helpfulness of JITAIs and influencing behavior change. These findings underscore the importance of tailoring intervention strategies to individual traits and environmental conditions, setting the stage for future research to refine the delivery, timing, and content of intervention messages.

Problem

• Smartwatch Technology
• JITAI (Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions)
• Urban Thermal and Noise Pollution Mitigation

Innovation

• JITAI
• Personalized Comfort Adjustments
• Cozie Smartwatch