In recent years, a new demand for air quality at home has developed among many people who value healthy living. Did you know that people in the US and Europe spend up to 90 percent of their time indoors—where air can be up to five times more polluted than outside? Poor indoor air quality is linked to headaches, reduced cognitive function, allergies and even serious respiratory issues.
Indoor Air Quality Monitors from Smartnmagic bridge that gap, by helping to make every breath you make at home safer and clearer by continuously monitoring airborne particulate matter, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), carbon dioxide (CO₂), temperature, relative humidity and particulate matters (PM1. 0, PM2.5, PM10) — right from your living room. And making it visible as no other air quality sensor in the world - using easy to understand animations.
Indoor air quality is impacted by various pollution coming from many sources. Some, such as fuel-burning appliances and indoor smoking, are relatively obvious. Others are not as readily apparent. Building materials including plywood, adhesives, and insulation – all found throughout the home – can also be sources which are greatly spoiling your indoor air quality. Even some cleaning products, such as detergents and shampoos, can contain formaldehyde
When it comes to pollution, enclosed spaces can be dangerous. Poor ventilation inside homes means that hazardous gases and airborne pollutants of all kinds can accumulate easily and hang around for long periods. Low levels of ventilation combined with poorly sealed foundations, in particular, can also lead to the accumulation of hazardous gases inside homes (the amount can vary drastically depending on where you live)
The effects of these various substances on indoor air quality can be severe. Immediate effects of exposure include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, along with headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Combinations of different pollutants can have additive or synergistic effects, and the long-term effects of exposure to certain common pollutants can be debilitating or fatal: these include respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer.
How to improve air at home?
Fortunately, several practical steps can be taken to improve indoor air quality and safety within the home.
Eliminate sources
Prevention is better than a cure: the best way to reduce the presence of harmful pollutants in the air at home is to eliminate their sources. Restricting the use of certain materials at home and opting for hypoallergenic (or “green”) cleaning products are effective ways of improving indoor air quality. Some sources can be enclosed (such as those containing asbestos), while fuel-burning appliances can be adjusted to decrease the amount of emissions. However, the removal of sources of pollution is not always practical when so many common household items and materials are known sources of pollutants.
Ventilate your home
Perhaps the easiest method of improving indoor air qualityl is increasing ventilation can have drastic effects. Cracking open a window, opening a door, or running a window air conditioner are all effective ways of increasing the outdoor air ventilation rate inside your home and preventing the accumulation of harmful pollutants. Kitchen or bathroom extractor fans that exhaust outdoors are also effective at removing pollution directly from those areas and bringing outdoor air into the house.
Air cleaning and filtration
Air cleaners and filters are effective at removing particulate matter from the air in your home hence they are your first line choice when it comes to shifting your indoor air quality to another level.. Although they’re generally not designed to remove gaseous pollutants, reduction of particulates is important for people with asthma and can improve pulmonary function. When choosing an air filter, bear in mind that the performance of different air filters is highly variable – it’s important to choose one that has both a high collector efficiency and a high air-circulation rate, and to change the filters regularly.
The future of indoor air quality control
Throughout the world in 2026, we’re experiencing an increase in the use of networkable sensors and controllers (such as intelligent thermostats, automated lighting, and keyless locking systems) to automate our homes. This increase in home automation, dubbed the “smart home revolution”, offers an opportunity to take control of our indoor air quality.
Developments in environmental sensing technology mean that we can now measure indoor air quality by displaying levels of indoor air pollutants such as CO₂, particulate matter, and VOCs with more precise, efficient, and compact sensors than ever before. Future smart home systems could use sensors like these to continuously monitor indoor air quality and inform you to activate your ventilation systems before pollutants reach dangerous levels.
As well as measuring concentrations of pollutants, such systems are also capable of monitoring basic indoor air quality parameters like relative humidity levels. The 40–60% RH petition refers to evidence linking humidity levels outside the 40–60% range to a higher risk of respiratory diseases. In the future, the incorporation of smart indoor air quality control systems into new built homes could have far-reaching consequences for our collective wellbeing.
At Smartnmagic we believe that everyone deserves to know the air quality around them, and we are here to make that happen. Our indoor air quality sensors are designed to be smart and easy to use. We truly believe that our sensors can help create a more informed and sustainable future for everyone.
Technology helps us all make informed decisions about how we can live healthier and safer lives at home and at play. In densely populated urban areas air quality is a major concern, but our sensors mean we can all continue to breathe in sweet clean air at home.
Closely monitoring the temperature, humidity, what we call indoor air quality, and the way it flows around our homes, allows us to guarantee the healthiest living conditions. Whether you are using dedicated air purifiers & humidifiers – it can effectively eliminate household smells and odours when needed..
Air is composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% traces of other gases. In indoor spaces, human activities and the infrastructure itself introduce additional contaminants (Table 1) such as carbon dioxide (CO2 ) and a mix of gases, called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). When indoor air quality is not meeting your expectations it usually means that the air at your premise is not sufficiently ventilated, contaminants build up, negatively impacting the health, but also reducing ability to recall information and maintain productivity.
Table 1
According to the World Health Organization, household air pollution is one of the leading causes of diseases and premature death. About 5,000 to 10,000 different VOCs are generated by building materials, furnishings, office equipment, consumer products, cooking and bio-effluents (as a result of human respiration, transpiration, and metabolism). As a matter of fact, those VOCs are two to five times more likely to be found indoors than outdoors which makes them a dominant factor of indoor air quality. VOCs are known to cause eye irritation, headache, drowsiness, or even dizziness, also known as Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). Prolonged exposure can lead to serious illness or even death. The WHO has made a significant contribution to raise awareness on how important indoor air quality is to our wellbeing, and has issued a list of common indoor air pollutants and their potential risks to drive policy making (Table 2). Indoor-generated VOCs are not only dangerous when directly inhaled, but indirectly increase outdoor air pollution too. Even though people use 15 times more gasoline and diesel than household products (in weight), cosmetics, cleansers and hairsprays contribute to 38% of fine particulates and smog.
Table 2
To meet our customers' demand for good indoor air quality at home spaces we have chosen the most precise sensors on the market (from Sensirion and Sciosense) as a core of our air quality monitors. They have decades of experience in environmental sensors for automotive, industrial and consumer applications.
The Role and Impact of CO2 in Indoor Air.
Public regulation sets limits of exposure to CO2 in offices and working environments. For example, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets a Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) for CO2 to 5,000 ppm over an 8-hour workday. Overexposure to CO2 can lead to problems with concentration, an increased heart rate, breathing issues, headaches, and dizziness (Figure 1). Traditional home ventilation systems use CO2 sensors to monitor occupancy levels and adjust ventilation accordingly to keep the indoor air quality intact.
If we look at specific ventilation guidelines, such as those issued by the German Environmental Agency (UBA) for indoor air quality, we see that the CO2 limit, at which air is considered bad and ventilation is required, is set at 1,500 ppm. This significantly lower limit than the OSHA guidance not only provides a safety margin, but also harks back to historic practices of ventilation and air quality measurement.
For a long time, CO2 was the only indoor air quality indicator whose concentrations could be measured at an affordable cost. In the 19th century, Max von Pettenkofer proved that a correlation exists between CO2 and VOC concentration levels in living environments, thus making CO2 a suitable surrogate for VOCs when assessing indoor air quality. This explains the ubiquity of CO2 sensors in demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) systems nowadays, and their use to contain contamination from air pollutants. So, can we conclude that monitoring CO2 only, and keeping its concentration within limits, guarantees low levels of VOC pollutants?
Well, not really.
Let’s take, for example, household rooms like a bathroom or a kitchen, or public spaces like gyms. In these cases, human activities generate an excess of VOCs (from bio effluents or cooking food) which is not reflected by an increase in CO2 levels. This means that traditional ventilation systems cannot always guarantee good indoor air quality.
TVOC as an Effective Indoor Air Quality Indicator
TVOC measures the Total Volatile Organic Compound concentration, and is used by several countries as an indicator of indoor air quality. Limits and recommendations are based on a large number of studies correlating health issues to prolonged exposure to high TVOC levels. The German Environmental Agency, for example, sets to 1 mg/m3 the maximum acceptable TVOC concentration compatible with a healthy living environment (Table 4). ScioSense gas sensors are designed to detect a broad set of VOCs commonly present indoors, including but not limited to those indicated by the WHO as important pollutants (Table 3). Besides accuracy and sensitivity, system responsiveness is another key sensor requirement in these applications to provide a satisfactory user experience.
In our Indoor Air Quality Monitors we use digital multi-gas metal oxide (MOX) sensors from ScioSence, specifically designed for monitoring the air at home.
With its innovative TrueVOC® technology, it combines detection of a wide range of gases including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxidizing gases with intelligent on-chip algorithms.
From Air Quality Index To Smart Air Quality Indicator
When you use any air quality monitor you require a simple air quality classification. ScioSense gas sensors which we use in our Indoor Air Quality stations offer an Air Quality Index (AQI), based on internationally recognized standards. AQIUBA is a ready-to-use air quality index as defined by the German Federal Environmental Agency and widely used by many countries and organizations (Table 4). The AQI is computed directly and is displayed in a very convenient format. This gives a unique flexibility and convenience in providing direct ventilation recommendations.
The Smartnmagic Indoor Air Quality Monitor is an all-in-one environmental sensor solution to precisely measure particulate matter and aerosols, volatile organic compounds, temperature and humidity. Thanks to its sensor technology it leverages the air quality measures to the next level, it is a very accurate, fully calibrated, maintenance free solution for air quality monitoring.
BENEFITS:
- Indoor air quality monitor displays 8 key factors (PM1.0, PM2.5, PM10, TVOC, eCO2 , AQI, temperature and relative humidity) all together
- Factory calibrated for a long time accuracy
- Compliant with international standards (RESET: Regenerative, Ecological, Social and
- Economic Targets, RESET defines performance targets for regeneration).
- Particle detection down to 0.3µm
- Superior accuracies over wide temperature and humidity ranges
- Reliable, multi-purpose air quality monitoring
- Meets current regulatory requirements
- Fast response times
- Consistent performance over time without intervention
Considering the above we can conclude that indoor Air quality directly impacts health and safety, yet indoor air pollution remains widely underestimated. Experts from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health state that indoor pollution can be more harmful than outdoor exposure. Research shows that emissions from sources such as wood stoves and candles significantly increase CO₂ and toxin levels—sometimes exceeding those found on busy city streets. Given that most time is spent indoors, maintaining clean, healthy air is essential for long-term health.
