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Comment by dsalzman | Hacker News Reader

Airpods are an integral part of Apple's future medical ambition. Always in ear Airpods constantly taking your Temp, HR, Glucose, GSR, etc. With the kicker that it is only stored locally and securely on your device, all processing done locally via HealthKit. That customized data will change how we think about patient care.

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> Airpods are an integral part of Apple's future medical ambition. Always in ear Airpods constantly taking your Temp, HR, Glucose, GSR, etc

I don't think there's nearly enough evidence for this to be an _actual_ thing.

>That customized data will change how we think about patient care.

People keep repeating this almost like a PR slogan but is there any actual solid evidence that constantly measuring health data has a meaningful impact on average, healthy adults and is a reasonable thing to do?

A non-diabetic person does not need to constantly measure their glucose level, and if anything slight anomalies in otherwise asymptomatic people may very well create health scares or overburden the medical system with people getting things checked out that isn't a problem.

This is a very real trade-off already present for example when it comes to mammographies, with many studies suggesting the routine screening might be a net negative.

The economic incentive for the healthcare industry is very obvious when it comes to putting everyone on 24/7 surveillance, but is there any indication it meaningfully improves the life of individuals in general?

> People keep repeating this almost like a PR slogan but is there any actual solid evidence that constantly measuring health data has a meaningful impact on average, healthy adults and is a reasonable thing to do?

ISTR some studies that for certain measures, frequent measurement without specific indication of monitoring need tends to drive overtreatment and worse outcomes, not even considering things like mammograms where the measuring actually can contribute to the thing it detects.

No. And there can't be. There were 0 generations that were able to track their parameters on a constant basis. If over time it is proven that it is useless we can stop doing it, but for now let's at least try to collect such data and make use of it...

There is still a problem with this PR, since everyone is talking about that, but technology is nowhere near to deliver on those promises. Hope the hype won't kill off real work in developing good sensors.

> Always in ear

What percentage of Airpods owners do you reckon _always_ have them inside their ears?

probably pretty high - apparently 17% of people in one survey said they have left them in during sex, so there's that

I'm going to need sauce on that.

Wtf aha, citation needed!

Primary source for the 17% number (although dubious considering it was 1,010 people online via Amazon's Mechanical Turk, and to qualify participants were required to be sexually active and enjoy listening to music):

https://www.tickpick.com/musics-influence-on-sexual-behavior...

You need to take them out every 2-4 hours for charging.

I've noticed a lot of people wearing just one, my kids included. They explained to me that by alternating earbuds they can wear them almost continually.

This sounds like the plot to a Dystopian tech movie. Something always in your ear... whispering.

We're only getting warmed up. Wait until they're invisible, or implanted in your skull.

Someone call Charlie Brooker!

The Seashells from Fahrenheit 451 fit into users ears like thimbles and they'd be worn into the night, lulling users to sleep.

I don’t know about always, but my APP are so comfortable I forget I have them on.

Same with my old bose SoundSports

Higher than I'd like. I find it incredibly rude and a bit disconcerting when I'm talking to someone and they've got Airpods stuck in their ears.

>With the kicker that it is only stored locally

Do you think most people would want to lose all their data if they lose their device?

It's certainly possible for the Apple Health data to be backed up to iCloud. I haven't changed devices recently, so I don't know if it is.

Correct... it's backed up to iCloud or on your computer with itunes if you encrypt it.

It has the option to backup to iCloud with end-to-end encryption.

Currently they're just causing a ton of ear infections and hearing problems.

https://www.reddit.com/r/airpods/comments/e2gmyw/ear_infecti...

I effectively exclusively use my AirPods when working out. That alone would skew any medical data dramatically (avg. heart rate, blood pressure, etc.)

Wouldn't it be simple to detect that dramatic change and isolate it/ keep it out of averages? I think the fact that people work out in AirPods is a non-issue for this example. If anything, just a way to segment the data and get even more insight.

That's your problem no?

If they were being fancy I'm guessing you could use some buzzwords (AI etc. etc.) to combine the data along with the moisture content around the ear to determine whether someone is exercising automatically. (Assuming they don't already, my phone seems to be able to but not very accurately)

That's going to be annoying.

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