The complexity of ECG makes this function not so practical.
As we all know, recently wearable health monitoring devices are "hot" again. On the one hand, the oximeter on the e-commerce platform sold for several times the usual price, and even a rush to buy the situation. On the other hand, for those who have long owned various smartwatches with advanced wearable health sensor devices, they may also be glad that they made the right consumer decision in the past.
While the smartwatch industry has made great strides in chips, batteries (fast charging), heart rate and vascular health monitoring algorithms, there is only one feature that was once considered a "flagship (smartwatch) standard" that no longer seems to be taken seriously by manufacturers and is becoming less and less common in products.
The name of this feature is ECG, which is more commonly known as electrocardiogram.
As we all know, for most of today's smartwatch products, they all have the heart rate meter function based on the optical principle. That is to say, using bright light to shine on the skin, the sensor detects the reflection signal of the blood vessels under the skin, and after analysis, the optical heart rate meter can determine the heart rate value because the heartbeat itself causes the blood vessels to contract regularly. For some high-end smartwatches, they have more optical heart rate sensors and more complex algorithms, so they can not only improve the accuracy of heart rate measurement to a certain extent, but also actively monitor and remind of risks such as irregular heart rate, tachycardia, and unhealthy blood vessels.
However, as mentioned in the previous article, since the "heart rate meter" on the smartwatch measures the reflection signal through the skin, fat, and muscle tissue, the user's weight, wearing posture, and even the intensity of ambient light can actually interfere with the measurement results.
In contrast, the accuracy of ECG (electrocardiogram) sensors is much more reliable, because it relies on a number of electrodes in direct contact with the skin, measuring the bioelectric signal flowing through the heart (muscle) part. In this way, ECG can measure not only the heart rate, but also the working state of the heart muscle in more specific parts of the heart during expansion, contraction, and pumping, so it can play a role in monitoring and detecting heart muscle damage.
The ECG sensor on the smartwatch is not different in principle from the regular multi-channel ECG used in hospitals, except for its smaller size and smaller number, which makes it more reliable than the optical heart rate monitor, which is relatively "tricky" in principle. This makes it more reliable than the optical heart rate monitor, which is relatively "tricky" in principle.
So, if the ECG ECG sensor is so good, why are there not many smartwatch products equipped with it now, or even fewer and fewer?
In order to explore this issue, we bought a well-known brand's last-generation flagship product from Three Easy Living. It has far better workmanship than the brand's current model, a titanium case and serious retro styling, and most importantly, it also has ECG ECG measurement, which has been removed from all new smartwatches launched by the brand since then.
To be honest, the smartwatch was a good experience. But after just a few days, we realized the reason for the decline of ECG on smartwatches, it's really too impractical.
If you usually pay attention to smartwatch products, you may know that the "health functions" emphasized by manufacturers today are mostly heart rate, blood oxygen, sleep, noise monitoring, as well as sports tracking, fall alert, stress assessment, etc. And these functions all have one common feature, that is, they can be highly automated. That is, the user only needs to wear the watch, the sensor can automatically complete the data collection, give analysis results, or in the "accident (such as tachycardia, the user fell)" when the first time automatically issued an alert.
This is not possible with ECG, because the principle of ECG is that the user must press the finger of one hand on a specific sensor area to form an electrical circuit for measurement.
This means that users are either very "vigilant" and often measure ECG levels manually, or they may only use the ECG function on their smartwatch if they are really uncomfortable. However, when the time comes, what else can we do if we don't rush to the hospital?
In addition, compared to heart rate and blood oxygen, ECG is a relatively obscure set of data and graphs. For most consumers, even if they habitually test their own ECG on a daily basis, it is often difficult for them to see any useful information from the charts.
Of course, smartwatch manufacturers have mostly provided solutions to this problem by simply interpreting the ECG through AI, or allowing users to pay to send the ECG to a doctor at a partner hospital for remote treatment. However, the ECG sensor may be more accurate than the optical heart rate monitor, but the results of the "AI reading" can't really be said. As for the manual remote diagnosis, although it looks good, there are time constraints (such as the impossibility of providing services 24 hours a day) on the one hand, and the relatively high service fees on the other hand will make a large number of users discouraged.
Yes, we are not saying that ECG sensors on smartwatches are inaccurate or meaningless, but at least for consumers who are used to daily "automatic measurements" and for most users who do not have a "health care practitioner", the current ECG-related technology is hardly useful for cardiac diagnosis. It is difficult to prevent heart health problems with current ECG-related technology.
It is no exaggeration to say that after the initial "novelty" for most consumers, they may soon tire of the complexities of ECG measurement and put it "on the shelf". In this way, the initial extra expense for this part of the function will naturally become a waste.
So in understanding this point, from the manufacturer's point of view, abandon the ECG hardware, reduce the hardware cost of the product, naturally becomes a very realistic choice.
Post time: Jan-28-2023
