According to a recent patent application published by the US Patent Office (USPTO), Apple's truly wireless stereo (TWS) earphones may one day serve as a health monitoring device. The AirPods sensor mechanism that would enable the earphones to track electrical impulses from the wearer's brain appears to have been developed by the Cupertino company. The patent describes a system that can monitor brain activity, which is typically done by placing electrodes on a patient's head. However, using AirPods may offer a more covert method of doing so.
A wearable electronic device, similar to Apple's AirPods, is described in a recent patent published on the USPTO website. It has electrodes, just like more conventional devices used to track biosignals like brain activity, such as electroencephalography, electrooculography, galvanic skin response, blood volume pulse, and electromyography. This might make it possible for someone wearing AirPods to keep an eye on their brain activity while they're on the go without using a device.
The AirPods are likely to move once they are inserted in a user's ear, unlike conventional EEG monitors that are attached to a user's scalp. The patent describes a system that integrates active and reference electrodes on the exterior of the AirPods' body, as well as several additional electrodes placed at various locations on the eartip, to take into account the fact that ear shape and size can vary.
Gurman: Apple is developing AirPods Pro with hearing health monitoring.
The wearable electronic device "includes a sensor circuit and a switching circuit," according to Apple's patent abstract. A variety of different subsets of one or more electrodes in the set of electrodes can be electrically connected to the sensor circuit using the switching circuit. The manufacturer has provided a diagram (figure 2) of the alleged device that shows the location of the electrodes on the wireless earphones, despite the fact that the description may seem a little hazy.
According to Apple's patent application, these AirPods' eartips will be replaceable. The patent application also described a mechanism (figure 5) that enables a user to tap a specific area of the earphone's body to begin measuring biosignals.
Figure 10 in the document suggests that the functionality could also be supported on wired earphones like EarPods or a pair of glasses — the reference and active electrodes would be placed on the first and second stems of the glasses — while showing the location of the electrodes on the eartip and the touch-sensitive area from a different angle.
Although a recent report suggests that Apple is looking into ways to incorporate new health features like temperature monitoring into its earphones, it is currently unclear whether the company plans to add the ability to measure biosignals to its well-known AirPods and other wearable devices. Additionally, Apple is reportedly working on ways to improve its current health monitoring products, including adding non-invasive blood sugar monitoring to the Apple Watch, which is anticipated to appear in a later version of the wearable technology.