Why Stop At Watches? Apple Explores Turning Its Wireless Buds Into Healthcare Devices

Apple Inc AAPL is looking into using its AirPod in-ear wireless buds to measure respiratory rate, a key indicator of health and fitness.

What Happened: A paper, first noted on Apple Insider, titled “Estimating Respiratory Rate From Breath Audio Obtained Through Wearable Microphones” on the iPhone maker’s Machine Learning Research webpage detailed the investigations into an estimation of respiratory rate or RR from short audio segments.

No specific models of Airpods were mentioned in the paper but the methodology used to measure the RR was laid out.

“RR was manually annotated by counting audibly perceived inhalations and exhalations,” as per the Paper’s description. 

Why It Matters: Apple noted that “RR can be estimated with a concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) of 0.76 and a mean squared error (MSE) of 0.2, demonstrating that audio can be a viable signal for passively estimating RR.”

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Apple’s research noted that existing mechanisms of measuring RR such as thermistors, respiratory gauge transducers, and acoustic sensors provide the most accurate estimation of a person’s breathing patterns.

However, the paper noted they are “intrusive” and may not be “comfortable for everyday use.”

“In contrast, wearable headphones are relatively economical, accessible, comfortable, and aesthetically acceptable.”

Participants in the research were also asked to note pulse rates in beats per minute using their Apple Watch.

In March, it was reported that Apple Watch and iPhone can remotely assess “Frailty” in cardiovascular patients.

Price Action: On Wednesday, Apple shares closed nearly 0.2% higher at $145.86 in the regular session and fell 0.13% in the after-hours trading.

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