AirPods may get a function to diagnose heart disease

Recently, 9to5Mac found signs in iOS 18 that Apple is testing the possibility of using future models of AirPods to monitor heartbeats. According to our sources, this feature will be implemented in AirPods Pro 3 and the next generation of Powerbeats Pro.

Apple's patent application describes how the company can use health sensors not only to measure heart rate, but also to detect heart disease.

AirPods heart rate monitoring feature

Earlier this month, we reported on new code found in the latest beta version, which relates to new wireless headphones with a heart rate sensor. Specifically, it says: “Wear both earbuds during exercise to track and send your heart rate to Apple Health. Manage in Bluetooth settings. This string is part of a system component that controls the settings of Apple's wireless headphones, such as AirPods and Beats.

Our sources expect this feature to launch next year. It is known that the AirPods Pro 3 will not be the only headphones with a new health sensor, as Apple also plans to add a similar sensor to the next generation Powerbeats Pro.

Detection of heart disease

According to Apple's patent application (discovered by Patently Apple), microphones in headphones can be used to detect signs of "heart disease" or heart disease.

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The microphone device can be worn in or on the user's ear. The signal coming from the microphone can be processed to determine the heart activity of the user. Signs of heart disease can be detected using a predictive algorithm applied to heart activity data.

Cardiac conditions can include various conditions related to the heart, such as coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, congenital heart disease, heart valve disease, and other disorders.

Microphone signal processing may include the application of a filter (e.g., low frequencies) to clean the signal. Additionally or alternatively, signal processing can detect infrasound or ultrasound signals that provide information about cardiac activity, such as blood flow.

At a basic level, bradycardia (abnormally low heart rate) and tachycardia (abnormally high heart rate) can be detected, but it is also possible to achieve more sophisticated detection.

For example, one can compare the first and second cardiac activity to detect differences in their intensity and timing.

Detecting carotid artery occlusion may involve the use of an artificial neural network to analyze data on first and second heart activity.

The AirPods Pro 3 are expected to hit the market next year, and according to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, they will be equipped with new health sensors.< /p>