Apple Watch Can Detect Heart Murmurs With 95% Accuracy
Apple has consistently led advancements in cardio technology, with its Apple Watch innovations, like atrial fibrillation (AFib) and irregular heartbeat detection, proving life-saving. The company’s latest machine learning initiative focuses on heart murmur detection.
Apple’s research paper reveals that its multi-task learning model (2dCNN-MTL) achieves over 95% accuracy in detecting murmurs, outperforming existing models. Additionally, it maintains a mean absolute error (MAE) of 1.636 bpm in heart rate estimation, meeting the stringent standards of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).
Heart murmurs, while often benign—particularly in children—can sometimes signal serious health conditions such as anemia, endocarditis, heart valve diseases, or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Traditionally, doctors detect murmurs using a stethoscope and confirm findings with diagnostic tools like chest X-rays, echocardiograms, or electrocardiograms.
Integrating heart murmur detection into the Apple Watch, alongside its ECG app and AFib detection, could significantly enhance early diagnosis and monitoring, further solidifying its role as a life-saving health device.