Apple is exploring the use of its Vision Pro headset to diagnose and treat mental and other health issues, The Information reports Wednesday citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Hartley Charlton for MacRumors:
Apple has experimented with using the Vision Pro to track a user’s facial expressions to detect depression, anxiety, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental health issues. Specifically, eye-tracking, pupil dilation, and external cameras can measure a person’s “affect,” a psychological term that refers to how an individual expresses emotions.
A so-called “flat affect,” otherwise known as an emotionless facial expression, can be a sign of specific mental health difficulties. Upon detection of such a problem, the Vision Pro would then display relevant images and play sounds that could improve the wearer’s mental state.
Apple has also apparently discussed using the Vision Pro’s infrared eye tracking-cameras to detect swelling in the blood vessels of the eyes to spot an early sign of heart failure.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple is smartly exploring myriad Vision Pro capabilities. Certainly, there are many uses for Apple Vision Pro, yet to be discovered!
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Support MacDailyNews at no extra cost to you by using this link to shop at Amazon.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Why? Nobody wants to strap something obtrusive to their face to accomplish very basic tasks. Who in the bloody **** is in charge at Apple anymore? This is idiocy. It’s like Google Glass never happened. Seriously, Apple: what fools do you have working for you, frittering away your money? Did you learn nothing from ‘the iPad Pro will replace your Mac’ (in case Apple executives didn’t notice, no, it did not. If that was just marketing spiel you should all be ashamed of yourselves)? Are there literal monkeys pulling switches in Cupertino? sure seems like it. A whole lot of words by a great many have already been spent on this topic so I will spare that, but really, modern Apple is some kind of wind-up robot that exist only because it is so wealthy it sustains itself without ever asking questions. Pbblt. It would have been comical 25 years ago; today, when these things have real ramifications – W in the actual F is this company even doing anymore? Nobody needs or cares about this, and it sure as **** it isn’t going to make anything better but Apple’s bottom line. Modern Apple is a downright embarrassment. Perhaps it is time to accept that about Silicon Valley writ large. Do not look to these people for novel ideas or innovation. Those days are dead and buried. A great many of us longtime power users understand technology many magnitudes better than the people that are actually working for technology companies.
Fantastic idea. You don’t have to be a psychiatrist (as I am) to realize humans have very poor insight into their mental health. Objective ways to monitor and provide feedback will be extremely helpful, particularly in this context.
Virtual (video) therapy/psychiatry is already a huge thing. Imagine a virtual mental health session with real time metrics into reactions and mental state. This is going to be incredible.