AirPods Pro could join Apple Watch in saving lives as soon as next year
With speculation that the next version of the AirPods Pro will include some health tracking capabilities, the current version of the device was able to monitor a user’s respiratory rate (RR) without adding new sensors. Instead, the two microphones on the AirPods Pro were used to track a user’s RR before, during, and after exercising. Apple posted the results of a study that used a neural network to remove noise from the recordings, and to analyze the sounds.
Using the AirPods Pro to track RR could give a user a head start and allow him or her to receive medical treatment from a doctor faster after receiving notifications that something about a user’s respiration is not normal. Heavy and abnormal breathing, greater than 25 breaths per minute, can be detected using the AirPods Pro. The respiratory rate feature is expected to debut on the upcoming watchOS 8 update and the data collected by the timepiece will surface on the Apple Health app.
New health features are coming to iOS 15 including one that determines whether a user is walking with a steady gait. An unsteady gait could be a sign that some one is about to fall. Some one checking the Walking Steadiness feature will be told how steady they are walking with one of three responses: “OK,” “Low,” and “Very Low.” Exercise that can improve a person’s mobility will be suggested.
Second-gen AirPods Pro featuring some health-related capabilities, should hit the shelves next year
Right now, the Apple Watch appears to be the device to buy if you want to survive a heart rate that is too high or too slow, abnormal heart rhythms that could lead to atrial fibrillation, dangerous falls that lead to an LOC (that’s loss of consciousness for those who don’t watch doctor shows), and low blood oxygen readings that can bring on hypoxemia that can affect your heart and brain.
But perhaps as soon as next year, the second-generation AirPods Pro will be another Apple device that the health-conscious should buy. We do expect the next AirPods Pro unit to hit the shelves some time next year and it just might be another arrow in the quiver as Apple seeks to improve the ease with which its device owners discover that they do have a serious health issue that needs to be taken care of immediately.
