Google has revealed new research showing that active noise canceling headphones can be converted into heart rate sensors without any additional hardware or modifications. This could enable affordable health monitoring through repurposed audio devices.
The researchers found that they could use existing microphones and speakers in the ANC headphones to detect subtle signals correlated with heartbeats. By sending and receiving ultrasonic waves, the headphones can pick up pulsations caused by changes in blood flow.
This method, called audioplethysmography (APG), takes advantage of the property of the ear canal of being abundantly permeated by small blood vessels that change slightly with each heartbeat. The study showed that it can achieve accurate measurements of heart rate and heart rate variability that rival dedicated sensors.
Importantly, APG transforms regular ANC headphones into health trackers without the need for new components. Reuses onboard audio components, meaning no additional costs, battery consumption or design changes are required.
The findings suggest that future headphones could monitor key health signals, such as heart rate, simply through software updates, without the need for additional hardware. Users can give apps permission to access these readings.
This has important implications for making health screening ubiquitous and affordable. However, Google will need to conduct extensive testing and obtain regulatory clearances before making commercial applications.
While promising, the research methodology must first withstand rigorous peer review and scrutiny. Google will also need to carefully evaluate biometric data privacy protections before implementing such a capability.
But the potential is exciting. If validated, APG could one day turn millions of existing ANC earbuds into versatile health trackers with near-zero marginal cost. This highlights how thinking creatively about hardware capabilities could expand mobile access to health.
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Categories: Technology
Source: vtt.edu.vn