Blood pressure-reading earbuds could become a reality in 2020

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: According to Valencell President Steven LeBoeuf, the ear is one of the best places to measure blood pressure as it has ample blood flow and a rich heart rate reading. It also generally remains the same distance away from your heart.

Valencell believes the next big breakthrough in health monitoring wearables could come via in-ear buds.

The US-based biometric company is working to bring ear buds to market this year that are capable of monitoring a user’s blood pressure.

CNET’s Scott Stein tested out a prototype version of Valencell’s ear buds during CES. After gathering some basic information and submitting to a 30-second test, the results from the reading popped up on a smartphone app.

As you can see, the prototype looks more like a hearing aid than an audio accessory.

LeBoeuf said Valencell plans to present its findings to the American College of Cardiology this year. Initially, they’ll go the route of “general wellness” device which will allow them to skirt some of the more stringent FDA regulations out of the gate.

The first evaluation prototype kits for partners are scheduled to ship out on February 2. With any luck, consumer models with blood pressure monitoring capabilities could hit the market by the end of the year.

All images courtesy CNET

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83479-blood-pressure-reading-earbuds-could-become-reality-2020.html

 

[Uncle Al]

With the variety of devices that do this now it should be a fairly simple task; collecting the data through the phone would make it very useful. Too bad they can't track the H1AC the same way!

 

[bviktor]

I think you might be confusing blood pressure with pulse.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

People who absolutely need heart monitoring or diabetic controls such as glucose monitoring/ insulin monitoring should be able to get an implant that can made readings from within the body.

And I know that many people will be quick to say: "they ain't putting nothing inside me"...

Pacemakers and various types of implants are already in use.

Might as well make them able to communicate with external scanners like a health smartwatch.

 

[Evernessince]

People who absolutely need heart monitoring or diabetic controls such as glucose monitoring/ insulin monitoring should be able to get an implant that can made readings from within the body.

And I know that many people will be quick to say: "they ain't putting nothing inside me"...

Pacemakers and various types of implants are already in use.

Might as well make them able to communicate with external scanners like a health smartwatch.

Then again medical devices in the US also have a very high rate of failure. People don't choose to use medical devices, they HAVE to.

Thanks to loopholes made on purpose, companies can make new medical devices without clinical trails simply if it is similar to a product existing on the market (even if that product evoked the same loophole and/or had issues). I'm sure the couple thousand for a class action totally makes up for the permanent damage many of these devices are doing to people.