Breathing Disturbances and Hearing Protection debut as latest Apple health measurements

Apple has unveiled a new technique for the detection of Breathing Disturbances, which, despite its name, is based on tell-tale tiny movements of the wrist in Watch users.

The new metric, clinically validated in a study "unprecedented in size for sleep apnea technology", is backed to gain approval from bodies such as the FDA, and to be available by the end of September 2024 in the US, EU, Japan and a number of other regions.

Should Breathing Disturbances become "Elevated", the Health app might send Sleep Apnea alerts to a connected wearable. This new ability will roll out to the Apple Watch Series 9 and Watch Ultra 2 (its new Black Titanium variant included) following its debut in their successor the Series 10.

Sleep apnea is thought to affect billions of people worldwide, as is hearing loss, which is also often difficult to diagnose.

Accordingly, Apple has conducted its own "large-scale, real-world" Hearing Study in order to allow the user to convert their AirPods Pro 2 into actual over-the-counter, "clinical-grade" hearing aid at need, optimizing the audibility of environmental noises, human voices and even different types of content based on the user's personal profile.

The AirPods Pro 2 (now $199 on Amazon) can also be used to conduct Apple's own Hearing Test. It is based on the based on the clinical standard pure-tone audiometry, but can be taken on an iPhone or iPad.

Apple's flagship wireless earbuds will also prevent hearing loss by actively excluding sudden or potentially damaging sounds using their advanced noise cancellation tech.