Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a patent application from Apple that relates to future AirPods and AirPods Max that could be engineered to provide users with an indication of a heart pathology that may be detected by applying a predictive algorithm to at least the heart activity.

Systems And Methods For Detecting Heart Pathologies

Apple's patent application covers a method includes producing a microphone signal with a microphone of a device worn in or on an ear of a user, processing the microphone signal to determine a heart activity, and detecting an association between the heart activity and one or more heart pathologies by applying a predictive algorithm based at least on the heart activity. For example, the method may use the predictive algorithm to detect that the heart activity exhibits characteristics that are known to be associated with one or more heart pathologies. The predictive algorithm may detect signals or characteristics comprised in the heart activity that indicate a risk of one or more heart pathologies.

The method may include capturing a second signal with a second sensor, processing the second signal to determine a second heart activity of the user, and detecting an association between the second heart activity and the one or more heart pathologies by applying the predictive algorithm to the heart activity of the user in the first microphone signal and the second heart activity of the user. The predictive algorithm may detect the heart pathology based on a comparison or correlation of the heart activity of the user and the second heart activity of the user.

The predictive algorithm may include a machine learning model (e.g., neural network) that is trained to detect the heart pathology based on receiving as input the determined heart activity of the user. In some examples, the predictive algorithm detects the heart pathology based on similarity between the heart activity and one or more reference signatures of the heart pathology.

The detected heart pathology may include bradycardia or tachycardia, or other heart pathology. Additionally, or alternatively, the heart pathology may also include an abnormal heartbeat. Other heart pathologies may be detected.

Detecting the blockage in the carotid artery may include using an artificial neural network to detect the blockage in the carotid artery based on the first heart activity and the second heart activity.

In some examples, the method includes indicating the blockage in the carotid artery to the user (e.g., as a message on a display, as a sound, or both).

In one aspect, a method includes capturing a first heart activity of a user, with a microphone of a hearing device worn by the user, capturing a second heart activity of a user with a sensor of a wearable device worn by the user, and determining a Pulse Transit Time (PTT) based on the first heart activity and the second heart activity of the user. Pulse transit time may refer to the time that a pulse wave takes to travel between two arterial sites (e.g., from the heart to the head).

The PTT, or other findings, may be presented to the user (e.g., on a display or as an audible message). A blood pressure of the user may be determined based on the signal captured inside the ear or the PTT or based at least on the PTT, and similarly presented to the user.

The method may include determining position of the user based on one or more sensors (e.g., an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a camera, etc.) and determining a reliability or accuracy of the first heart activity of the user or the second heart activity of the user based on the position of the user. For example, if user determined to be standing or laying sideways, the method may ignore or discard the first heart activity, the second heart activity or both, until the position of the user matches a target position (e.g., sitting or lying flat).

In some examples, the sensor includes an electrode or PPG sensor in addition to the acoustic sensor. The sensor may have a separate housing from the hearing device or be worn on a different location of a user's body than the hearing device, or both. For example, the sensor may be worn on a user's wrist or on a user's chest (e.g., near the heart).

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below illustrates a system #100 for using an AirPods device to detect heart pathology. AirPods may include in-ear sensing technologies (e.g., microphone #110 and IMUs), and apply one or more algorithms (e.g., a machine learning model) to detect heart, vascular, pulmonary, and neurologic related pathology.

The algorithms may assess the severity of the pathology and predict the appropriate therapies. In some aspects, data from various sensors (e.g., from other wearable devices or from mobile devices) and/or data from other sources of data (e.g., patient records stored digitally) may be processed and considered as a whole to detect heart pathologies. Consent from a user may be obtained before collection of personal data or biometric information.

Apple's patent FIG. 3 above illustrates an example using AirPods Max system for detecting blockage of a carotid artery. Carotid artery stenosis (narrowing of the blood vessels that make up the carotid artery) typically goes undetected until a person has a brain stroke. The narrowing often results from atherosclerosis, a build-up of plaque on the inside of the arteries which may be referred to herein as blockage. Diagnosis of such condition is traditionally performed at a hospital using dedicated equipment (e.g., a duplex Doppler system).

Apple's patent FIG. 6 above illustrates an example of a method for detecting a potential blockage of the carotid artery, based at least on heart activity sensed with a microphone. 

To review the full details of this invention, check out patent application 20240315584.