Scientists are developing earbuds that can detect irregular heartbeats – and believe they could replace EKGs in just TWO years

Fashionable earbuds can be used to detect an irregular heartbeat by monitoring the heart’s electrical activity.

Researchers at Imperial College London have developed an in-ear device slightly larger than an earbud that can measure an EKG throughout the day.

A new study found it works about as well as a traditional EKG with electrodes on the chest for two out of three readings.

Although the earphone detects a weaker signal from the heart than a chest EKG because it is further away from the body, it has the advantage of being easily worn for hours.

This can help people find out if they have a heart arrhythmia much faster, without seeing a doctor.

Heart rhythm problems, which affect around two million people in the UK and include an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation, can increase the risk of dangerous health problems such as stroke or cardiac arrest if left untreated.

The academic inventors of the earbuds, which they have dubbed “audibles”, hope they can be available to people within two years, although the devices currently cost around £400.

Researchers tested the earbuds on 10 people and compared them to a traditional EKG, which involves wearing two electrodes on the chest.

The earbuds displayed a reading that showed waves with peaks and valleys similar in shape and spacing to the traditional EKG.

This is important if you notice a fast or slow heartbeat.

However, the height and depth of the waves were not comparable to those of a chest EKG, which may make the measurement less accurate.

This is important because people with atrial fibrillation, for example, produce several small waves at the start of a measurement rather than a larger single wave that needs to be detected.

However, researchers are working to make the device more sensitive and say their earbuds can also be used to monitor the brain and track sleep and stress levels.

Professor Danilo Mandic, lead author of the study, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, said: “It is a pioneering method to obtain an EKG from the ear canal to detect early signs of chronic heart problems.”

“Instead of people feeling sick and having to go to the doctor before an irregular heartbeat can be detected, we want them to be able to continuously monitor their heart and see any changes in real time.”

“Earplugs are easy to insert and are very discreet and normal, unlike electrodes worn on the scalp or neck.”

“Our earbuds received a US patent in April and we hope to see these devices on sale in the near future and perhaps even available on the NHS.”

The earplugs, which are commercially available or can be molded to the shape of a person’s ear using silicone, may in the future be used for more everyday purposes, such as listening to music.

But they are connected to an algorithm that interprets the EKG values ​​and can alert people when they need to see a doctor.

For people who already suffer from a fast or slow heartbeat or a cardiac arrhythmia, the earplugs can help to check how well the condition is being controlled by medication.

The earbuds monitor the heart’s electrical activity using embedded electrodes, with measurements made more accurate by the dilation and constriction of small blood vessels in the ear canal as the heart pumps.

Researchers also tested them on five people who had to pretend to drive a car in a virtual reality game. They found that the measurements were still accurate when people moved their heads and bodies and clenched their jaws in a way that changed the position of the earbuds.

Compared to an electrode in the neck, the transmitted sensors did not perform as well, but the researchers say they are more discreet to wear and that machine learning algorithms are being developed to improve the accuracy of the measurement.

The research was published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.