Apple announced new features for the AirPods Pro 2 during its iPhone 16 launch event. One of the highlights was the AirPods Pro 2’s ability to work as a set of hearing aids with iOS 18. Apple never fails to impress its fans with accessibility and health features. Now, the giant plans to transform its AirPods into a very practical health accessory. According to a recently issued patent, Apple is testing future AirPods models to detect certain heart conditions like abnormal heart rhythm, bradycardia, or tachycardia.
The patent suggests that Apple could integrate small, sensitive microphones into AirPods. Microphone signal processing would be used to determine cardiac activity. If your heart activity seems problematic or unusual, you may receive an alert or notification about it. All this processing and analysis of microphone signals would be done by complex predictive algorithms based on Machine Learning. This could detect signals or compromised characteristics in cardiac activity, of which a user might not be aware. With the first indications, a user can consult a doctor for a proper diagnosis.
You should know that the detection system may not be limited to a single microphone. The patent also explains that Apple could install a second microphone in AirPods. The signal detected by this second microphone will be compared to the signal picked up by the first microphone to determine if a user is experiencing unusual cardiac activity. Besides unusual heartbeats, future AirPods could also detect carotid artery blockage using an artificial neural network that takes into account first and second heart activity.
Over the past few months, we’ve heard rumors that Apple was preparing to integrate advanced health-tracking features into AirPods, including temperature and ambient light sensors to detect heart activity. The latest patent highlights Apple’s concrete plans to deliver life-saving health features.
The heart disease detection feature will be implemented in the next-generation AirPods Pro 3 and Powerbeats Pro, which are expected to arrive next year. The reason Apple might release AirPods with a heart disease detection feature next year is a code in iOS 18 RC, as spotted 9to5Mac.
A string in the code says: “Wear both earbuds during workouts to track and send your heart rate to Apple Health.” Manage in Bluetooth settings.
Keep in mind that this is just a patent. Apple might experiment with different ideas and might not implement this concept on AirPods. Considering how the AirPods and Apple Watch have evolved from luxury pieces to useful health and fitness accessories, we can expect Apple to make this concept a reality.
