Whenever someone goes to a clinic for a physical check-up, it is common for their primary doctor to measure their heart rate by putting the stethoscope on their chest. That or whenever someone just went for a run, jog, sprint, or any other physical activity, they can hear their heart beats by putting their own hands on their chest (and same goes for putting their fingers on their necks to fell the blood pulsing and pumping). Now, Google researchers just figured a way on how to give earbuds the ability to measure heart rates. According to an article by Phandroid, the types of earbuds that the researchers used were off-the-shelf ANC earbuds.
Google determined heart rate through blood vessels in ear canals heard by earbuds
The Google researchers used a method called “audioplethysmography” (APG), which sent low intensity ultrasound signals. Then later, they obtained those signals back through the earbuds’ built-in microphones. Through this method, the Google researchers found that blood vessels in our ear canals moved in sync alongside the heart beats. By using ultrasound, the Google researchers’ earbuds measured those effects to determine the heart rate. One can imagine that for people with underlying health problems, particularly cardiovascular ones, having earbuds that determine heart rate can definitely impact their lives for the better. Maybe, those earbuds can even influence people to change their lifestyle habits as well, especially if those habits are life-threatening.
