Google is allegedly working on a new feature on Android to examine users' sleep habits, namely by detecting coughing and snoring sounds via Android phones.
This new feature was discovered from a code line in the installation file of the Google Health Studies app. In the application, Google is conducting research called "Sleep Audio Collection", which is currently only available to Google employees.
"You must be a Full Time Googler (as a Google employee) with an Android phone to be able to participate in this study. The environmental conditions required for this study are no more than an adult in the same room who does not work in a competing company," wrote Google.
Through this study, Google collects the data needed to validate, manage, and develop algorithms in a sophisticated software tool with recognition capabilities, which will later be available on Android.
This cough and snoring algorithm (Cough and Snore) will appear in the form of a sleep monitoring feature, and will monitor when users cough and snore during sleep, as quoted by us from Phone Arena, Friday (27/5/2022).
Google also explained that this feature will operate in a "privacy-preserving, on-device" form, which more or less means, all data will be processed securely and stored locally on the phone.
The Cupertino, US-based company promises that this new feature will provide important data for its users.
An example of useful information from this feature is whether the user snores and or when the user snores. The data can then be processed for people who have trouble sleeping, or it could be whether changes in food menus and sleep schedules can have an impact on the user's sleep quality.
Unfortunately, it's not clear yet when Google will implement this feature for all Android users, or at least for Pixel users. Or instead, will Google implement this feature in full.
If implemented in full, it is possible that Google will embed this feature in Google Fit, a health monitoring application on Android.