INDACO.ONE / Knowledge Centre / Digital Biomarkers

Science

Digital Biomarkers

A digital biomarker is an objective, quantifiable characteristic collected by digital devices — voice, movement, behaviour, physiology — used as an indicator of a physiological or behavioural state.

Where the signal comes from

Ordinary devices now capture signals that once required a laboratory. A microphone records acoustic properties of speech. A camera captures gait, posture and, through remote photoplethysmography, subtle colour changes in the skin from which heart-rate trends can be estimated. Wearables record movement, heart rate and sleep patterns.

The scientific interest is not in any single measurement but in what these signals do over time — how they vary, and how they depart from a person's established pattern.

What the evidence supports — and what it does not

A substantial and growing peer-reviewed literature examines associations between such signals and conditions including Parkinson's disease, cognitive decline, and mood disorders. Much of this work is promising, and much of it remains early: findings vary across populations, recording conditions and study designs, and independent replication in real-world settings is still limited in many areas.

Being explicit about this matters. A digital biomarker that is informative as a trend within an individual is not thereby a diagnostic test, and treating it as one would misrepresent the science. Consumer-grade sensing also carries known accuracy limitations — camera-based physiological estimation, for instance, is affected by lighting, motion and skin tone.

Why longitudinal use is the honest use

Following a signal within one person, against their own baseline, is both scientifically more defensible and clinically more useful than reading a single value against a population norm. It tolerates the noise inherent in consumer sensing, and it aligns the technology with the question that long-term care actually asks: is this person changing?

How INDACO.ONE approaches it

The platform treats digital signals as inputs to longitudinal understanding, expressed as trends against an individual's own baseline and always under human oversight. INDACO.ONE is not a diagnostic device, does not diagnose, and does not claim clinical performance.

Related concepts

INDACO.ONE is a software-only Connected Care Intelligence Platform. It is not a diagnostic device and does not diagnose, treat or replace clinical judgment. It supports understanding, coordination and longitudinal insight under human oversight.