UW develops Alexa skill for monitoring heartbeats

Researchers show the device that constantly measures heart rate through sonor even through clothes as you sit in a room without Caption: University of Washington researchers have developed a new skill for a smart speaker that acts as a contactless monitor for both regular and irregular heartbeats. Here, co-author Dr. Dan Nguyen, a clinical instructor at the UW School of Medicine, uses the team's smart speaker prototype (white box in lower left corner) to demonstrate how the system works. Credit: Mark Stone/University of Washington (Mark Stone/University of Washington/Mark Stone/University of Washington)

By KIRO 7 News Staff

SEATTLE — University of Washington researchers have developed a new skill for the Amazon Echo smart speaker, powered by its Alexa voice assistant, that can monitor for regular and irregular heartbeats for the first time.

When the skill is enabled, a user would sit within 1 to 2 feet of the speaker. Alexa would play an inaudible sound that bounces off the person and returns to the speaker.

Alexa would listen to how the sounds are reflected back to the speaker, and because the beat of a heart produces a tiny motion on the chest, the system uses machine learning to determine the beats from those sounds.

Researchers show the device that constantly measures heart rate through sonor even through clothes as you sit in a room without Caption: University of Washington researchers have developed a new skill for a smart speaker that acts as a contactless monitor for both regular and irregular heartbeats. Here, lead author Anran Wang, a UW doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, sits with the smart speaker prototype (white box in foreground) the team used for the study. Credit: Mark Stone/University of Washington (Mark Stone/University of Washington/Mark Stone/University of Washington)

Researchers tested the system on healthy participants and cardiac patients, and Alexa was able to detect heartbeats that were very close to beats detected by standard heartbeat monitors.

The UW researchers hope that future versions of this skill could be used to continuously monitor heartbeats while patients are asleep, which can help doctors diagnose conditions like sleep apnea.