Have you ever heard the sound of your own heartbeat in your ear? It often happens when you are lying in bed in a quiet room with your head pressed into the pillow. This rhythmic pulsing, called pulsatile tinnitus, is surprisingly common. Many patients ask about it during office visits concerned that is a sign of a problem.
It occurs because of acoustic amplification when your ear is pressed against a pillow, a natural phenomenon that reflects the sound of your own circulation. For most of us hearing our pulse is harmless, but when that pulsing becomes persistent or one sided, it can serve as an alarm, signaling rising blood pressure or changes in blood flow that deserve medical attention.
With the release of the New Airpod Pro 3, earphones have the potential to poistion themselves into a device that no longer just streams music but in the future will
Listens for these clues of Cardiovascular Disease such as Atrial fibrillation and Hypertension
Acts as a hearing aid and
Listens for early signs of dementia.
Airpods for Heart Rate Tracking
AirPods Pro 3 are the first of the Airpod line to include infrared photoplethysmography (PPG), for heart rate tracking. Given the Apple Watch’s capability to screen for hypertension using PPG on the watch, it’s plausible that AirPods could eventually offer similar screening in the future.
Airpods for Hearing Again
For years, some of us subjected our ears to loud music, often causing lasting damage. There’s an irony in that instead of blaring music Airpods are being repurposed as sophisticated hearing aids. Picture a future where these devices not only act as hearing aids but also offer discreet cardiovascular screening, free from the stigma of bulky traditional aids.
Airpods for Dementia Screening
We all recognize when are brain is tired. You forget words and names. Your speech is slower. These subtle changes carry powerful clues. These same clues now can be used to screen for dementia.
Combining voice analysis through your Airpods with physiologic data and they become passive cognitive monitors, quietly listening for signs that your mind is losing its edge. AI models trained on speech, can identify mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease several years earlier than conventional diagnostic methods, prompting individuals to seek timely treatment.
Preventive Health from the Ear.
Health data is migrating from the wrist to the ear and what emerges is a multimodal health platform that blends:
Cardiovascular screening
Hearing correction
Cognitive monitoring
While many people don’t wear smartwatches or fitness trackers, most of us use AirPods and their usage may be wider (especially globally) than Apple Watch usage.
As we once tested our phone signal with, ‘Can you hear me now?’ our hearables may one day respond: ‘Yes and here’s what your heart, ears, and brain are telling me.
#DigitalHealth #Wearables #Hearables #AirPods #Cardiology #FutureOfMedicine #RemoteMonitoring #AIinHealthcare #PreventiveHealth #HealthTech