Amazon may be working on an Alexa device that may be able to track sleep and detect sleep apnea, according to one Business insider report.
Citing anonymous sources and an internal Amazon document, Business Insider claims the device is about the size of a person’s palm and looks like a hexagonal pad with a metal wire base. It is intended to be placed on a person’s bedside table. Interestingly, the device is said to be non-contact and uses millimeter-wave radar to monitor breathing and movement during sleep to detect if someone has sleep apnea. The device will likely also connect to other devices, as well as a companion notification app. Internally, the project was to be called “Brahms”, after the composer Johannes Brahms. You know, the guy famous for writing lullabies, possibly because he is too suffered from obstructive sleep apnea.
The report further notes that Amazon has expanded the team responsible for building this device over the past year and plans to build a “ sleep analysis ” program that goes beyond sleep apnea.
Gizmodo contacted Amazon about the Business Insider report, but did not immediately receive a response.
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If that is true, this is not very surprising news. In recent months, Amazon has repeatedly expressed its interest in expanding its healthcare and wearable technology business. Since November, Amazon has been Amazon Pharmacy service, added fitness tracking features to its echo buds, and also launched Halo, the very first fitness tracker.
The fact that Amazon may be targeting sleep apnea also makes sense. Sleep tracking devices aren’t new, and to differentiate themselves Amazon would likely offer a feature that isn’t currently available. Of the medical conditions that health and wearable technology can potentially detect, sleep apnea is still there for the taking, affects an estimated 22 million Americans, and is not particularly easy to make an official diagnosis. Apple claimed its stake in atrial fibrillation via an EKG app back in 2018 with the Apple Watch Series 4 – and it wasn’t until 2020 for Fitbit and Samsung to catch up. Samsung has focused strongly on control of blood pressure. Meanwhile, Fitbit has been working on potentially detecting sleep apnea for years, starting with the introduction of SpO2 sensors in its Ionic smartwatch. However, it wasn’t until early 2020 when it finally published its Estimated Oxygen Variation metric. At that point, Fitbit noted it was seeking FDA approval for a sleep apnea detection function. Withings also announced his ScanWatch smartwatch last year, which also claimed to detect sleep apnea, although it is still pending FDA approval. Here we are a year later, and crickets.
Additionally, sleep tracking has become an increasingly desirable feature, despite questions about overall accuracy. Apple finally added native sleep tracking with watchOS 7 in 2020. Recovery-focused, sleep-tracking wearables such as Oops and the Oura Ring also taken into account headlines last year, partly because these devices were used in studies to see if they could detect covid-19. In any case, the global market for sleep tracking devices is expected to grow nearly 16% to $ 43.5 billion by 2026. You know Amazon wants a piece of that.