Thursday, December 12, 2024
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AirPods may one day be able to detect heart pathologies

FIG. 1 shows a system for using an ear-worn device to detect heart pathology

AirPods may one day be able to detect heart pathologies as hinted by a new Apple patent filing (number US 20240315584 A1) for “Systems and Methods for Detecting Heart Pathologies.”

About the patent

Heart pathologies include a range of conditions that relate to a person’s heart, such as, for example, blood vessel disease (e.g., coronary artery disease), heart rhythm problems (e.g., arrhythmias), heart defects (e.g., congenital heart defects), heart valve disease, disease of the heart muscle, heart infection, or other heart pathologies. Apple wants its AirPods to be able to detect such things.

Summary of the patent filing

Here’s Apple’s abstract of the patent filing: “A device that includes a microphone may be worn in or on an ear of a user. A microphone signal generated by the microphone may be processed to determine a heart activity of a user. An indication of a heart pathology may be detected by applying a predictive algorithm to at least the heart activity.”

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Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.