Glossary
Digital phenotyping
Characterizing a person's health and behaviour from data generated by everyday digital devices, such as phones and wearables.
A phenotype is the observable set of characteristics of an individual. Digital phenotyping uses passively and actively collected device data — movement from accelerometers, typing speed, voice, sleep patterns, location variability — to describe behaviour and health continuously, in daily life, rather than at scheduled clinical visits.
It overlaps with digital biomarkers: phenotyping is the broad characterization; a biomarker is a specific validated feature within it. Both depend on careful handling of consent and privacy, since the data is intimate and continuous.
Why it matters to our work
Longitudinal capture of gait, speech and cognition signals is a clinical form of the same idea, applied within specialized care rather than through consumer devices.