Now you can also check the heartbeat and respiratory rate through a mobile phone, two important signs commonly used to assess health and wellness. Google has said that this feature is starting from next month, and these features will be available in the ‘Google Fit’ app for Pixel phones. Google will use the camera and computer vision technology for this, which is also called optical detect. This technique will use the camera for heart rate. Whenever you take fresh oxygen, it goes from the heart to the whole body and with the help of the camera, the heart rate can be detected by changing the color of the fingers. Svetak Patel, director of Google’s Health Technology, says, ‘This feature will be in the Google Fit app, which will be present in the Pixel phone right now and will be gradually used in other Android phones.’
Starting this month, you can measure your heart rate and repository rate from your phone’s camera only. For the repository rate, you have to bring your head and face in front of the camera and for heart rate, you have to put your finger on the rear camera lens of the phone.
This measurement will not be used to evaluate medical diagnoses or medical conditions. Patel hoped that people can take good care of their health by tracking their wellness daily through this app. Prior to launching this product, Google did an initial clinical verification to test its accuracy, and tests conducted on several people found it to be accurate in counting every breath.
The process used to detect heart rate is called photoplethysmography (PPG), which is usually picked using special sensors. According to the Fitzpatrick scale, Google has already completed initial clinical validation to test the performance of algorithms among people with different skin types. Its algorithm has been found to be accurate within two percent on average across all categories.
Patel said in a blog post that thanks to fast-moving sensors and advances in computer vision, these features allow the smartphone’s camera to be used to track small physical signals at the pixel level such as chest movements. Is used to measure their respiratory rate and changes.
