Amazon may be working on an Alexa-enabled device that could detect sleep and sleep apnea, according to a Business Insider report.
Referring to 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 block with a metal wire base. It is meant to be placed on the person’s bedside table. The interesting point is that the device will reportedly be contactless, using millimeter wave radar to detect breathing and movement during sleep to determine if someone may have sleep apnea. The device is also likely to be connected to other devices as well as an accompanying notification app. Internally, the project is presumably called “Brahms”, after the composer Johannes Brahms. You know, the man who’s known for writing sleep songs, possibly because he, too, suffered from obstructive sleep apnea.
The report further notes that over the past year, Amazon has expanded the team responsible for building this device and plans to set up a “sleep analysis” program that goes beyond sleep apnea.
Gizmodo asked Amazon about Business Insider’s report, but did not immediately respond.
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If that’s true, it’s not very surprising news. Over the past few months, Amazon has repeatedly indicated its interest in expanding its healthcare and portable technology business.. Since November, Amazon has been Amazon Pharmacy Service, added fitness tracking features to his Echo Buds, and also launched Halo, his very first fitness tracker.
The fact that Amazon is possibly sleep apnea also makes sense. Sleep tracking devices are not new, and to differentiate itself, Amazon is likely to offer a feature that is not currently available. Of the medical conditions that health and portable technology can possibly detect, sleep apnea is still ongoing, becoming an estimated 22 million Americans, en is not very easy to officially diagnose. With the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018, Apple claimed its stake in atrial fibrillation via an ECG app – and that lasted until 2020 before Fitbit and Samsung caught up. Samsung strongly focused on to monitor blood pressure. Meanwhile, Fitbit has been arguing for years about the possible detection of sleep apnea, starting with the introduction of SpO2 sensors in its Ionies smartwatch. However, it was only in early 2020 when it finally released its benchmark for the estimated oxygen variation. At the time, Fitbit noticed that it was seek FDA approval for a function for detecting sleep apnea. Withings also has his ScanWatch smartwatch last year, which also claims to detect sleep apnea, although it is still pending FDA approval. Here we are a year later, and crickets.
On top of that, sleep detection despite the fact that it has still become a desirable feature questions about overall accuracy. Apple has finally added native sleep tracking with watchOS 7 in 2020. Recovery-oriented, sleep tracking wears like Whoop and the Oura Ring also clipped headings last year, partly because these devices have been used in studies to see if they can discover covid-19. In any case, the global market for sleep tracking devices is expected to grow by 2026 almost 16% to $ 43.5 billion. You know Amazon wants a piece of it.