Not sure about the state of Apple Watchen but my Garmin watch (a several year old Fenix) monitors breaths per minute, history, and has breath exercises. Seems this would be easily within reach of Apple so I’m not sure why they’re not doing it if Garmin is. Unless what Garmin considers accurate or reliable isn’t up to Apple standards. Shrug.
TIL: Garmin also uses HRV to infer respiration, aka respiratory sinus arrhythmia. But it's good enough for all day. And skimming their forums suggests their users are content that it works as advertised.
https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/garmin-technology/health-scienc...
https://www.garmin.com/en-SG/blog/critical-relationship-betw...
I desperately want active breath monitoring
I don't think it's a great idea to call people boffins and then ask them to do something for you.
From Wikipedia[^0]:
> Boffin is a British slang term for a scientist, engineer, or other person engaged in technical or scientific research and development. A "boffin" was viewed by some in the regular services as odd, quirky or peculiar, though quite bright and essential to helping in the war effort through having and developing the key ideas leading to transformative military capabilities.
I desperately want active breath monitoring. Like measuring breaths per minute. Like nudging me when I'm holding my breath.
These features would greatly help me with managing chronic pain.
Also, the "pulmonauts" are doing a bunch of cool new stuff. Active breath monitoring would be a boon.
"Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art Hardcover" by James Nestor [2020-05-26] https://www.amazon.com/Breath-New-Science-Lost-Art/dp/073521...
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Out of curiosity, I tried using some decibel meter type apps to detect my breathing (breath sounds). Just to see if it's even possible.
I didn't get very far. I haven't had the gumption to investigate further. Use an actual mic and tape recorder, because maybe the iPhone is doing active noise cancelation or something. If there's actually some signal (sound), maybe there's also a way to get the raw data from the iPhone mic.
Asked another way, I'm not smart enough to figure out if an iPhone's stock mics are sensitive enough to pick up 10 decibels (breath sounds). My google-fu is weak.