Latest Apple Devices to Address Sleep Apnea & Hearing Health
Consumer tech giant Apple has announced new healthcare features for its Apple Watch and AirPods Pro devices that help detect sleep apnea and improve hearing health respectively.
The Apple Watch will now include a sleep apnea notification feature. Sleep apnea is a disorder where breathing stops momentarily during sleep. It affects over 1 billion people worldwide and often goes undiagnosed.
Dr Sumbul Desai, Apple's Vice President of Health, says, "With Apple Watch, we continue to offer our users the ability to uncover important health conditions with new sleep apnea notifications."
The feature uses a new metric called Breathing Disturbances. It detects small wrist movements associated with interrupted breathing patterns during sleep. The watch analyses this data every 30 days.
Users will receive notifications if signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea are detected. They can then discuss these findings with their doctor. The feature also allows users to track their breathing disturbances over time.
Dr Sairam Parthasarathy, from the University of Arizona, says of the development: "Empowering consumers to reliably identify abnormal breathing patterns during sleep can help uncover a woefully underdiagnosed and serious medical condition such as sleep apnea."
WHO: 1.5 billion people have hearing loss
Apple is also introducing new features for AirPods Pro, its wireless earbuds, that help address hearing health issues. The World Health Organisation reports that 1.5 billion people worldwide live with hearing loss.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorised Apple's Hearing Aid Feature. The software turns compatible AirPods Pro into over-the-counter hearing aids, and is designed for adults with mild to moderate hearing impairment.
The company is launching what it calls an "all-in-one hearing health experience". This includes a Loud Sound Reduction feature, a Hearing Test and a Hearing Aid feature.
The Loud Sound Reduction feature helps prevent exposure to loud environmental noise. It uses the AirPods Pro's noise cancellation technology to reduce loud, intermittent sounds. This feature aims to protect users' hearing in noisy environments.
The Hearing Test feature allows users to assess their hearing using their AirPods Pro and a compatible iPhone or iPad. It's based on a standard clinical approach called pure-tone audiometry. Users can take this test at home in about five minutes.
The Hearing Aid Feature allows users to customise settings to their hearing needs without professional assistance. It uses hearing levels from the iOS HealthKit to personalise the experience.
Dr Michelle Tarver, acting director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, states, "Today's marketing authorisation of an over-the-counter hearing aid software on a widely used consumer audio product is another step that advances the availability, accessibility and acceptability of hearing support."
A clinical study with 118 subjects demonstrated the effectiveness of this feature. Users achieved similar benefits whether they used the self-fitting strategy or received professional fitting.
FDA now allows over-the-counter hearing aids
These developments follow the FDA's 2022 regulations allowing over-the-counter sales of hearing aids. This change aimed to improve access to hearing aid technology for adults with mild to moderate hearing loss.
Hearing loss can negatively impact communication, relationships, and emotional well-being. It has also been linked to cognitive decline and depression in older adults.
Apple's new features represent a growing trend of consumer technology companies entering the healthcare space. They aim to make health monitoring and assistance more accessible through everyday devices.
Dr Tarver concludes: "This is a significant step forward in addressing hearing loss, a public health issue impacting millions of Americans, while fostering innovation and convenience in healthcare technology."