Fitbit has registered a new patent for a heart rate monitor that could be built into a pair of headphones and track your pulse from inside your ear canal. The patent for in-canal heart rate monitoring apparatus (document reference US 11666235 B2) was first submitted in 2020, but only published by the US Patents and Trademarks Office this week.
The hypothetical headphones might not just track your pulse, either. According to Fitbit's documentation, data collected "may comprise motion data regarding the wearer's movements, ambient light, ambient noise, air quality, etc, and/or physiological data obtained by measuring various physiological characteristics of the wearer, such as heart rate, perspiration levels, and the like."
