Smart earbuds: top biometric headphones
Ever wonder what your heart rate is when you’re running while listening to music? The ear provides a great platform for doing this kind of biometric measurement. It is a little known fact that earbuds, rather than watches, tend to be the most accurate heart-rate monitors, outperformed only by traditional chest straps.
Headphones are also great for people who work out and want to check their steps, distance traveled and calories burned, on the fly. Some smart buds even claim to be able to track brain waves through EEG and provide real-time feedback about focus, stress, sleep patterns and relaxation.
Wearables suppliers are increasingly looking beyond the wrist, and the ears may very well be the next big growth area. The best technology is invisible. This the road we’re going down.
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Samsung Gear IconX | Jabra Sport Pulse | Bose SoundSport Pulse | Sony Smart-B Trainer | Jabra Elite Sport | Vi
Samsung Gear IconX
These cord-free buds let you listen to music by streaming from your phone or via the 4 GB (per earbud) built-in storage for offline playback. Simply transfer songs from a Samsung smartphone or PC through Bluetooth.
For fitness buffs, the biometric earbuds automatically track your activity including steps, distance, calories, activity, heart rate and VO2Max. They also feature a standalone audio Coach function which will lets you know in real-time how you are performing.
One important feature is the ability to tap IconX and use your voice to carry out tasks by activating Bixby, Samsung’s smart artificial intelligence assistant. You can, for example, control your music or your phone, hands-free.
The buds provide battery life of up to five hours of music streaming or seven hours of standalone music playback.
Jabra Sport Pulse Special Edition
This is an all-in-one training solution for sports which features a built-in biometric heart rate monitor. The buds are built to provide high quality audio via Dolby enhanced sound and take a beating because they’re sweat and weather-proof towards US Military Standards.
Along with Gear IconX, this is one of a select few headphones that automatically measure your VO2 Max. A useful metric for runners, VO2 Max describes the maximum rate of oxygen that your body consumes during exercise and helps determine your endurance level. Analyzing your levels can be used to enhance your performance. For instance, a 5% improvement in your VO2 Max score would typically cut 5 minutes off of your 10k run time.
The accompanying smartphone app provides real-time audio coaching and lets you control your music and your training from a single source. With no wires, you can enjoy true freedom of movement. The buds also work with most popular fitness applications on iOS and Android devices to provide pace and distance alerts.
Bose SoundSport Pulse
This is the first heart rate monitor from Bose that works with MapMyRun, RunKeeper, Endomondo and Runtastic. The headphones are designed to provide a secure and stable fit during even the most intense of workouts. The fit is crafted to form a gentle seal, which improves the audio performance of your favorite workout soundtrack.
The Bose Connect app helps you manage your paired devices and gives you real-time readings from the built-in heart rate sensor. You can connect to your device via Bluetooth or NFC, and use the inline mic and remote to control volume, skip tracks and take calls. Volume-optimized EQ gives you balanced audio performance at any volume.
Finally, the lithium-ion battery provides up to 5 hours per charge, which means Sound Sport Pulse will stay with you through those marathon training runs or long hours at the gym.
Sony Smart-B Trainer
Another well rated product, the Sony Smart-B Trainer is a solid all-in-one comprehensive fitness trainer and 16GB music player.
The compact, in-ear design houses six integrated sensors (including GPS) that dish out 11 different measurements. This includes calories burned, distance, time, speed, pace, pitch, steps, strides, route and altitude. An impressive list, indeed.
Smart B-Trainer periodically updates you with heart rate distance, pace or anytime you like at the push of a button. The smartphone app allows you to set goals and fitness level, and will then guide you day by day with target heart rates for efficient fat-burning and stamina increasing sessions.
In case you were wondering, the buds play music as well… Smart B-Trainer uses your target heart rate to automatically select tracks matching tempo to training, slowing you down or speeding you up to keep you on target.
Jabra Elite Sport
These sweat and waterproof (IP67) buds offer a comfortable and secure cord-free fit, with option to wear one or both earbuds. Inside there is a clinical grade heart rate monitor and fitness analyzer. The gizmo will dish out personalized in-ear audio coaching, race pace calculator, recovery advice, VO2Max and more, along with the standard gamut of fitness tracking. Jabra Elite Sport will even count your reps in the gym.
Featuring bass enriched sound, noise reduction technology and dual microphone technology in each bud allows you to play music or take calls, too. Best of all, no wires to get tangled in.
Battery life is 3 hours talk/music time. The portable charging case adds an additional 6 hours.
Vi
These biometric headphones have the potential to improve your running, cycling and training. They will sense your heart rate, cadence and speed, and can tap into GPS so you can feel confident about your workout. Vi adapts to your fitness level and personalizes a workout for you.
Plus, with all day battery life you can enjoy your favorite music and talk on the phone without ever touching a single button. All this is delivered through beautiful sound powered by Harman Kardon.
The smart buds functionality is also triggered by voice commands. For example, “Vi how am I doing?” will be met with Vi giving an update of current stats, while “Vi step to the beat” will trigger her cadence coaching capabilities.
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Awesome earbuds, but pretty overpriced. I love my Rowkin earbud, well priced and cool features.
Hi
It seems very interesting new approach -using the ear as sensing area , this might resulting to further expansion of head / earphone bio metric tracking & hopefully better prices ,.
Thank You