Will Your Health Records Be Safe If Android Phones Track Coughs and Snores?

Google has been working on a number of new features for the Pixel phones, which are expected to be rolled out to other Android devices in the future. One such new feature discovered is the smartphone’s capacity to detect coughs and snores. Snores and coughs could be detected on-device for the first time on Pixel phones.

Coughs and Snores Can Be Detected Using Android Phones

An APK analysis of the Google Health Studies app is revealed in a 9To5 Google story. Google is working on an on-device cough and snore detection tool for Android and Pixel phones, according to reports. Google states that its “Health Sensing team is actively working to deliver an enhanced array of sensing capabilities and algorithms to Android devices with the objective of giving consumers with relevant insight into their sleep.”

“Strings in that update reveal a ‘Sleep Audio Collection’ study that’s only available to Google employees,” the report states. This means that the ‘Sleep Audio Collection’ study is currently open to people who meet the study’s requirements of having an Android phone and working full-time at Google. The study also includes a few contextual factors, such as having one adult sleeper in the same room who is not employed by a competitor. Google appears to be developing improved sensing capabilities for future Android smartphones. This would provide a more accurate picture of the user’s sleeping habits.

When Will Google Cough and Snore Detection Show up?

The cough and snore sensors present a few privacy concerns as well. For the same reason, Google claims that the supported Android and Pixel phones will have privacy-preserving bedside monitoring functions. This means that the data is captured, recorded, and processed on the user’s phone rather than being sent to Google Cloud.

A novel sensor to detect cough and snores is now being developed. It’s unclear whether the new function would be exclusive to Pixel phones or will be available on all Android phones built by Google. For all we know, the new cough and snoring sensors will first be available on Google Pixel devices before being sent out to the rest of the world.

Many of these health-related functions were first introduced on Google Pixel phones. The heart rate and respiratory rate detection functions, for example, were first available on Pixel phones before being rolled out to other Android devices.