gms | German Medical Science

Health care is currently potentially at the beginning of a huge transformation driven by new technologies available through the digitalization wave. Technology is progressing at a very fast pace integrating various types of sensors for monitoring vital signs on the human body. The ear is turning into a hotspot for this because it is a good location at access vital signs. Furthermore, most health application today target an elderly population which are also in need of a hearing instrument. Thousands of different apps exist today in the fitness, nutrition and health care management. Smartwatches and hearables are being used more and more to measure and monitor different types of vital signs on the body 24/7. One major opportunity could include to shift health care from being very reactive in nature to become more preventive for eg fields such as reducing risk of falls, delaying cognitive decline etc. Overall, Apps and wearables open up many new opportunities transforming health care but also pose a number of challenges. This talk will attempt at summarizing and discuss current trends and open considerations in the integration of vital sign monitoring in hearing instruments.