Heart rate monitoring in hear

Apple's Beats brand is officially introducing the Powerbeats Pro 2 today, bringing significant updates to the wireless earphones aimed at active users. Among the upgrades for Powerbeats Pro 2 are Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) with Transparency mode, Personalized Spatial Audio, an H2 chip for improved power efficiency and Apple ecosystem integration, and for the first time in an Apple audio product, Heart Rate Monitoring.

I’m fascinated by heart rate monitoring built into hearing products. I don’t know how good it is, but my guess is that it’s at least as good as the wrist.

Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 have the ability to act as a hearing aid, and with this continued push into health sensors I’m excited to see the future of products like this.

Thankfully AirPods fit well into my ears, so I don’t have a need for the kinds of around the ear hooks that Powerbeats has. I’m interested to see this kind of tech make its way into the next generation AirPods Pro 3, whenever those get announced.