A few years ago we had seen a patent that referred to this function in AirPods, measuring the respiratory rate. This is a function that It seems they are using some of the Apple researchers to take measurements of respiration.. This is shown by a new report in which some researchers are recording data on audio and the possibility of obtaining key data to measure respiration through the sound of inhaling and exhaling air.
While the document does not name `` AirPods at any time, '' Apple is known to have explored some of these options with headphones. The patent we are talking about for example, Apple described a headphone-based fitness monitoring system that are integrated along with an advanced biometric sensor that can detect physiological metrics including temperature, heart rate, perspiration levels and more.
Data were collected from 21 people who wore near-field headphones with a microphone before, during and after an exercise session. This "RR" frequency was recorded manually by counting the inhalations and exhalations audibly perceived. A multilevel convolutional neural network was used to achieve signal clarity, among other things, and the observed results show that RR can be estimated with a concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) of 0,76 and a mean square error (MSE) of 0,2. , XNUMX, which shows that audio can be a viable signal to passively estimate RR.
The results presented validate that RR can be estimated from audio captured with portable microphones, allowing the detection of heavy breathing conditions and the tracking of RR changes, a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness, over time. . The findings hold promise for further development of a respiratory health tool with a larger study cohort.
It may be that finally AirPods become more than just headphones and with the arrival of new options in them, it is expected that they will be integrated into health as the Apple Watch does today, a device focused almost entirely on health measurement functions.