Heart Rate monitoring on smartphones has been tried and tested many times in the past. From Samsung to third-party app developers, have leveraged either dedicated heart rate sensors at the back or used the built-in flash to get a quick measurement. However, the latest Google research proves heart rate can be measured using just the front-facing camera.
Measuring Heart Rate Using the Front Camera Is Possible
A newly-published research from Google reveals that a person's heart rate can be measured by simply looking at them using smartphone cameras. Unlike dedicated fitness trackers, which have used heart rate sensors for years, Google's pitch is the software using the front-facing camera to analyse a person's heart rate.
This can be done by analysing changes in the skin colour as blood physically flows through the body. While these changes are quite hard to see with the naked eye, modern optics combined with machine learning models can detect, decode and learn from them.
Google demonstrates this with an illustration video where a user unlocks the smartphone with their face, and the phone continues to measure and store their heart rate in the background. The user is then seen viewing their heart rate information via an app.
The research also details the stages of this measurement where the phone takes the video, stabilises it, crops it and sends it to a neural network, which then passes it through Confidence gating and measures the heart rate by applying the aggregation and Kalman Filter algorithm.
However, the most impressive part about this is that Google claims the system is extremely reliable. The brand amassed over 350,000 videos collected from 700 participants, and the results from the phone came within five beats per minute readings produced by the Fitbit Charge 6.
The Feature May Not Arrive Very Soon
Despite the great results, Google says that the tech is not perfect at the moment. The challenges right now are making the system maintain a consistent capture rate for individuals with darker skin tones. Besides, the research also notes that movements could introduce errors during the scan.
The other significant hurdle is privacy. Google suggests on-device processing to make sure consumers' data is protected. However, users are still going to have some resistance against the feature. But most don't need to worry, as this is a research project as of now and might never come to fruition.
However, the feature could have great long-term implications where smartphones can reliably track heart rate and even potentially alert users if something isn't right. This could make tracking one of the most vital aspects of our health truly accessible.
Who knows, perhaps Google also has ongoing research for Skin Temperature tracking, which warranted the supposed removal of Thermometer on the Pixel 11 series for Pixel Glow.
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