Fertility wearable lets you know when it’s go time

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This ear piece by YONO Labs helps women record Basal Body Temperature for fertility tracking.
This ear piece by YONO Labs helps women record Basal Body Temperature for fertility tracking.
Photo: YONO Labs

There are fertility deities, dances, stones, herbs and masks. Every culture has rites and rituals that try to improve the chances of a woman getting pregnant.

Tech culture, too, tries to influence the forces of fertility with gadgets and smartphone apps to create ovulation calculators, period calendars and temperature trackers. But you still need the discipline of consistent record keeping for them to work.

The startup company, YONO Labs, has developed an ear piece that records BBT, Basal Body Temperature, and other body and hormonal symptoms while a woman sleeps. When she wakes, the device gets docked and the data gets stored in an iOS or Android app for your smartphone.

The docking base syncs data recorded during sleep to an iOS or Android app.
The docking base syncs data recorded during sleep to an iOS or Android app.
Photo: YONO Labs
The YONO app keeps track of a woman's BBT readings and other information.
The YONO app keeps track of a woman’s BBT readings and other information.
Photo: YONO Labs

YONO launched the device on Kickstarter Monday, trying to generate $30,000 to put its wearable into production.

For some couples, conception comes down to precise time and temperature. BBT is a woman’s lowest resting body temperature. It drops a tiny amount over the course of a month and then can rise slightly one day, signaling ovulation.

The manual method of taking this temperature, according to YONO Labs CEO Vanessa XI, is fraught with error. The YONO device uses more than 70 data points collected over the course of a night’s sleep. When the ear is placed in the docking base, the YONO app charts and analyzes the information needed for a woman to conceive and manage her health.

“When I was trying to get pregnant a couple of years ago, I found the process very stressful and I found collecting basal temperature very difficult and frustrating,” XI says in the promotional video below. “So I thought about leveraging the latest . . . wearable technology to make the process easier and more convenient.”

The ear piece comes in three colors – light green, sea foam and violet – and is currently available for a pledge of $99.

YONO does not indicate on its website or Kickstarter page how successful the device was during testing.

https://youtu.be/pWD8IAljDsg

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