Apple wants to bring health features beyond the Apple Watch, and the headphones seem like the perfect device for that. Mark Gurman from bloombergrevealed in its weekly newsletter that the Cupertino-based company plans to upgrade the AirPods. “become a health tool in the next year or two” to, among other things, allow the user to receive “some kind of auditory data”.
Gurman didn’t go into detail about potential health-related features that Apple could include in the next generation of AirPods. We assume, however, that the company plans to add some kind of diagnostic function through the use of specific sensors. Exactly something similar to what Apple is already doing with the Apple Watch and an electrocardiogram or blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) sensor.
This isn’t the first time Apple has considered including health-related benefits in AirPods. In fact, Ming-Chi Kuo detailed a year ago that the company intends to add this feature in order to counter the increasingly fierce competition. Later, Kevin Lynch, VP of Technology, hinted at TechCrunch What AirPods can also be added to Apple Watch and iPhone to collect health data.
The current AirPods, in fact, already have some health features. One of them is Live Listening, a feature that can be especially useful for people with hearing problems and, in particular, allows you to amplify the microphone so that you can listen to conversations in noisy environments. AirPods also have a mode called Conversation boost. This allows the headphones to more clearly pick up the voice of the person in front.
Health features on AirPods may take a year or two
We reiterate that AirPods’ hearing health features may take a year or two, according to Gurman. It’s unclear if Apple will release new generations to add these features, or update the firmware of current models instead.. And the fact is, sensors and components that include the AirPods Pro 2 and third-generation AirPods, such as speakers or microphones, may be enough to conduct such an analysis.
Apple can also enable health features on the iPhone with a feature called Body ID. This will work similarly to Face ID, but with an important difference. Instead of analyzing the face to unlock the device, Body ID will be able to scan the whole body provide medical information. Or even make a confession to a person.
Source: Hiper Textual
I’m Ben Stock, a highly experienced and passionate journalist with a career in the news industry spanning more than 10 years. I specialize in writing content for websites, including researching and interviewing sources to produce engaging articles. My current role is as an author at Gadget Onus, where I mainly cover the mobile section.
