Breath Acoustic Headset in IndieGogo and Philips Innovation Fellow Competition
I’m always interested in the latest and greatest devices that are entering healthcare. So, I was really intrigued by this new All-In-One Breath Acoustic headset from Breath Research. The Breach Acoustics All-in-One headset includes:
- Acoustic breath pattern analysis
- Heart Rate
- Pulse Oximetry
- Altitude, Location and Barometric Pressure
Here’s the video they use on their IndieGogo campaign to introduce the product:
As of this posting, they’ve raised $11,872 on their IndieGogo campaign with a goal of $30,000. If you contribute $200 you will receive one BeathAcoustics headset. Plus, they have a number of other options available including a variety of coaching and training sessions from Breath Research CEO, Nirinjan Yee.
I’m a little leery on the claims that the headset together with HearZones USA will help you:
- Alleviate stress
- Improve athletic performance
- Achieve weight loss goals
- Get better sleep
I think their basing these claims on personalized health and fitness recommendations. So, in that respect their probably accurate. I think there are many studies that show that health and fitness can provide the above results. The question I have is whether this Breathe Acoustic headset will provide a significant change to someone’s health and fitness habits.
As they say in the campaign, athletes have been using personalized physiological data for years. The question I have is whether providing that data to everyone will really impact someone’s health. I certainly don’t know the answer to that question, but I’m excited to see Breath Acoustic bringing that analysis to the masses.
I also found it interesting that the above IndieGogo campaign is part of the Phillips Innovation Fellow Competition. Here’s a short description of the competition (done in partnership with IndieGogo):
Philips and Indiegogo are hosting the “Innovation Fellows” competition and are calling for innovators to submit their #BIGIDEA to address the current innovation gap in the areas of living well, being healthy and enjoying life. With its constant commitment to people-focused innovation, Philips aims to make a difference in people’s everyday lives, and is offering $100,000 of its own money, plus mentoring from Philips leaders, to help the best ideas come to market faster.
You can see the 37 entrants in this competition here. I’m really fascinated by the idea of someone like Philips working with IndieGogo for the competition. How smart is it to use actual customer driven purchasing to drive a competition? Certainly there’s more to innovation than customer purchasing, but that can be one indicator of something people actually care to use. I’ll be interested to see how this competition goes.
