Google has detailed new research that can turn your truly wireless earbuds and headphones into heart rate monitors with a simple software update.
What Happened: Alphabet Inc.'s
Detailing its audioplethysmography (APG) research, Google says that the ear canal is an "ideal" location for heart rate sensing. This is because the deep ear artery "forms an intricate network of smaller vessels that extensively permeate the auditory canal."
Google says its approach sends an "ultrasound probing signal" through the speakers of ANC headphones or earbuds.
"This signal triggers echoes, which are received via on-board feedback microphones. We observe that the tiny ear canal skin displacement and heartbeat vibrations modulate these ultrasound echoes," Google researchers say.
Think of it like tapping a button in the headphone's app on your phone to begin heart rate sensing.
Google's algorithm then processes this feedback into a heart rate reading. The company conducted a study that established the accuracy of the APG method to measure heart rate. According to the results, APG achieved consistently accurate results, with a meager 3.21% median error.
Why It Matters: What makes this even better is the fact that, unlike existing heart rate sensors, this APG method is not impacted by skin tones.
This also gives Google a huge leg up compared to Apple Inc.'s
Since Google can simply issue a software update to all its existing Pixel Buds and other Google-certified earbuds and headphones, it can turn millions of devices into highly accurate heart rate trackers with a simple software update.
At the minimum, heart rate tracking will very likely come to Pixel Buds.
