Amazon could be working on an Alexa-compatible device that could track sleep and detect sleep apnea, according to a Business Insider report.
Citing anonymous sources and an internal Amazon document, Business Insider claims that the device is about the size of a person’s palm and looks like a hexagonal pad with a metal wire base. It is meant to be placed on a person’s nightstand. The interesting part is that the device will be contactless, using millimeter-wave radar to track breathing and movement during sleep to detect if someone may have sleep apnea. The device will probably connect to other devices as well, and will have an accompanying notification application. Internally, the project is called “Brahms”, after the composer Johannes Brahms. You know, the guy famous for writing lullabies, probably because he, too, suffered from obstructive sleep apnea.
The report goes on to note that in the last year, Amazon has expanded the team responsible for building this device and intends to build a “sleep analysis” program to overcome sleep apnea.
Gizmodo contacted Amazon about the Business Insider report, but did not immediately receive a response.
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If true, this is not terribly surprising news. In recent months, Amazon has repeatedly signaled interest in expanding its healthcare and wearable technology business.. In November, Amazon launched its program Amazon Pharmacy Service, added fitness tracking features the Echo Buds, and also released Hate, his first fitness tracker.
The fact that Amazon could target sleep apnea also makes sense. Sleep tracking devices are not new, and to stand out, Amazon would probably offer a feature that is not currently available. Of the medical conditions that health and wearable technology could detect, sleep apnea is still underway, affects an estimate 22 million Americans, and it is not particularly easy to officially diagnose. Apple has been betting on atrial fibrillation through an ECG application since 2018 with the Apple Watch Series 4 – and it took until 2020 for Fitbit and Samsung to catch up. Samsung has focused heavily on blood pressure monitoring. Meanwhile, Fitbit has been hitting on the potential detection of sleep apnea for years, starting with the introduction of SpO2 sensors in Ionic smart watch. However, it was not until early 2020 that it finally launched the Estimated Oxygen Variation metric. At that moment, Fitbit noticed that it is seeking FDA approval for a sleep apnea detection feature. Withings also announced ScanWatch The smartwatch last year, which also claimed to detect sleep apnea, although it is still awaiting FDA approval. Here are the crickets a year later.
In addition, sleep tracking has become an increasingly desirable feature, despite the fact that questions about general accuracy. Apple has finally added native sleep tracking with watchOS 7 in 2020. Recovery-focused portable sleep tracking accessories cough and Oura ring also nabbed headlines last year, partly because these devices have been used in studies to see if they can detects covid-19. In any case, an increase in the global market for sleep tracking devices is expected nearly 16% to $ 43.5 billion by 2026. You know Amazon wants some of that.