Wearable Health Monitoring Technology: A focus on the Oura Ring

The podcast episode discusses wearable health monitoring technology, specifically focusing on the Oura Ring. It highlights the increasing demand for health tech due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift towards digital health monitoring. The Oura Ring is praised for its sleep tracking capabilities and readiness score, which analyzes various body signals. The podcast also explores ethical implications such as agency and informed consent, dependence and obsession, data inaccuracy and misinterpretation, and health data inequality. It emphasizes the need for responsible innovation and accessible healthcare technology. Good morning. You didn't sleep enough last night, did you? Only 15 mins of REM sleep. Remember to drink water. And it's time to take a walk. Maybe meditate a bit too. Just kidding. I'm not your health monitoring device. But speaking of which, welcome to today's episode of Ethics in AI. I'm your host, Anushri Sharma, and today we're deep diving into the world of wearable health monitoring technology. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we've become increasingly concerned about our health. There's been a huge surge in health tech spending. A 2022 Accenture study across 16 countries revealed a surprising trend. Despite financial challenges, a whopping 80% of people plan to keep or increase their health and fitness spending. Health and wellness are becoming as essential as groceries, even when budgets are tight. The healthcare industry faces a significant shift towards digital health technology, with a growing demand for real-time and continuous health monitoring. So today, we're specifically talking about gadgets that are not only changing the way we monitor our health, but also raising some intriguing ethical questions. Yes, I'm talking about those sleek wristbands and rings powered by none other than AI, transforming them from simple gadgets to sophisticated health assistance. Now, let's take a moment to really understand what wearables are and how AI breathes life into them. Wearables are small electronic devices that can be worn on the body. They're not just gadgets, they're complex systems combining sensors, actuators, and computational capabilities. These devices collect a vast array of data, from your heart rate to your skin temperature, offering insights into your health that were only once possible in a medical setting. But how do they make sense of all this data? This is where AI comes into play. Advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms dive into this wealth of information. Due to the vast amount of data it collects, they can pick up on subtle health changes, differentiating between sleep stages, or even predicting complex health conditions. By continuously learning from an individual's personal data, including their health history, these algorithms can offer accurate, tailored advice. Today, we shine our spotlight on a little wonder from Finland, a country known for their happiness score, the Oura Ring. Since 2013, Oura has been a trailblazer in wearable tech. They've turned sleep tracking on its head. Let's put this into perspective. Polysomnography for short, is the gold standard for sleep measurement. But imagine you're in a medical office wired up to machines which took over two hours to connect to you, expected to sleep in a room with the knowledge that you're being watched by professionals, all whilst paying up to $1,500 for this snapshot into your sleep data. But Oura, with its heritage ring priced at a comparatively humble $299 and 599 monthly membership, offers a comfortable 24-7 sleep tracking experience simply through a ring on your finger. So no doctor, no medical office, no wires and no high cost. And it aligns with 79% of the PSG standard, outperforming other commercial wearables by about 19%. But now Oura isn't just about sleep tracking in 2024. A key feature they've developed is the readiness score. This analyzes over 20 different body signals including temperature, heart rate, sleep quality and activity levels. It can even tell if you've gone clubbing. The result, a comprehensive snapshot daily of how prepared your body is for the day ahead. It's like having a personal health advisor on your finger. In the world of menstrual health tracking, Oura has partnered with Natural Cycles, the first digital contraceptive. Natural Cycles requires users to take their temperature every morning to provide accurate fertility data. But usually this is quite a tedious task and people often forget, leading to discrepancies in their data collection. And now the integration with Oura and its artificial intelligent capabilities, the process is much more seamless, allowing data collection without the disruption to daily routines. Oura is now also making waves in various sectors from luxury fashion to sports. In a landmark collaboration, Oura partnered with the iconic brand Gucci, resulting in the Gucci Oura Ring, a fusion of both tech and style, and have recently become the official partners of the New York Knicks team, helping to bring the behind the scenes of elite sports performance to life. Having explored the remarkable capabilities of the Oura Ring, let's pivot to some real world experiences and delve into the ethical and legal implications of such wearable technologies. Joining us today is my friend Shreya, an Oura Ring user. Hi Shreya, welcome to the podcast. Thanks Anushri, thanks for having me. Let's start with some basics. When did you start using the Oura Ring? I think it's been about four or five years. Why did you start? I wanted to understand my health better and so I could understand what changes to make. I was going through a couple of health challenges. Okay, let's delve into our first ethical dimension, agency and informed consent. There's a paper discussing how wearables increase personal agency and health and well-being, but who has this agency? The customer, the AI product, or the company? Are we becoming puppets to these devices and their algorithms? Shreya, what's your take on this? Well, I think the first problem is we actually, as consumers, very rarely actually look at T&Cs and actually understand what we're finding. I know for a fact that I haven't really properly read them through, so I think that's one challenge of how do we actually make sure that we, as consumers, are actually reading what we're assigning and agreeing to. But I think in terms of the company having agency and stuff, what I really appreciate is the fact that we can now utilise this data for research. I think it's just how is this research used for good and it's not being sold to earn more profit is where I have a slight issue with it. Okay, now let's talk about dependence and obsession. Similar to apps such as TikTok that can be addictive, do you think there's a risk of obsession with health data, especially for those who aren't using it for specific medical reasons? Yes, I mean, I think if you look at, for example, people who are obsessed with healthy food, you've got orthorexia, it's a similar concept that could come. You can get completely obsessed with making sure your sleep score is 100% all the time and you're getting the right recovery, which eventually can have a knock-on effect. And actually, you're not socialising, you're not living life to the fullest. But I think for me, I think it needs to be used as a tool and not as a bible. And now moving on to data inaccuracy and misinterpretation. We know that the accuracy of data from wearables is crucial. Misinterpretation can lead to anxiety or even false reassurance. How do you view this challenge? So I think one of the first things I have is actually really understanding how the algorithms are put in place and what's the accuracy around that. I know for a fact when I've compared my HRV rates, for example, with the Oura Ring and other HRV monitors, there's discrepancy. So now my question is, which is the right one and what do you follow? And I think understanding and making those algorithms perhaps more open so you can really understand where they're coming from and what the matrix is, that would help. And I think the other side of it is understanding the legalities of it. So if someone was to say to take information and use that to then make crucial decisions from that, then it affected their medical health negatively. Who's responsible? Yeah, that is really important. And I think our final dimension is health data and inequality. The Oura Ring is priced as a luxury product. This could widen the health gap across different socioeconomic groups. Shreya, how do you perceive the ethical implications of this? Well, I think this is a problem, I think, at the moment with anything in the health and wellness sector is. They are basically targeting the rich. The rich are getting healthier. We're getting more unhealthy, especially in places like the US, which don't have access to free medical care. And I think this is a challenge that we kind of globally need to be thinking about. How do we actually change? If there was a way of, I don't know, you buy one, you give one to somebody. Because I think what I love about it is that now we as individuals can make informed decisions about our own health versus having to outsource it. And I think everybody should have that power to do that, regardless of how wealthy you are. Yes, I do completely agree. And I think these companies should do something to make this accessible to a large number of people. But thank you so much for your insights. And to conclude, it's clear that while wearables like the Oura Ring offer incredible benefits, they also bring about complex ethical questions. As we continue to embrace these technologies, it's crucial to keep these discussions alive. It's not just about innovation. It's about responsible innovation. To our listeners, thank you for tuning in. Stay informed, stay healthy, and let's keep this conversation about ethical use of health technology going.