Pixel Watch 3’s Loss of Pulse Detection: the Algorithms That Tell Someone is Dying
2 min read
Summary
The new Loss of Pulse Detection (LoPD) feature in Google’s Pixel Watch 3 uses sensors to detect if a severe kinetic event like a car crash, or something more subtle like the beating of one’s heart has ceased.
If this is detected, the watch offers a series of escalating responses, ultimately calling emergency services.
The American version of the watch recently got US FDA approval, allowing it to be made available in the US after previously becoming available in over a dozen European countries.
The feature seems accurate enough to at least determine whether the person wearing them is suffering a cardiac event that requires immediate intervention, but challenges include avoiding false positives.
Since the feature is for use when a person is not observed to be suffering a crisis, its usefulness will be highly dependent on how quickly emergency services can arrive on scene.
It does not seem unreasonable to speculate that such a device could save someone’s life in the case of a cardiac arrest when noone else is around to observe the event and intervene.
However, it seems unlikely to be a major game-changer, since a cardiac arrest is a relatively rare event.
