Key result
In-ear audio sensing via earbuds estimates stroke volume with ~5 mL error versus clinical devices.
Why the study?
Stroke volume is currently measured in-clinic with specialized equipment, and while purpose-made wearables exist, no solution relies solely on commodity devices.
Does a deep learning system using in-ear audio from earbuds accurately estimate stroke volume compared to clinically validated devices in healthy participants?
Does a deep learning system using in-ear audio from earbuds accurately estimate stroke volume compared to clinically validated devices in healthy participants?
In-ear audio sensing using earbuds combined with deep learning can accurately estimate cardiac stroke volume, potentially enabling scalable and affordable out-of-clinic cardiovascular monitoring.
May enable convenient stroke volume monitoring; hypothesis-generating pending validation in patients and clinical settings.
Stroke volume, the volume of blood ejected by the left ventricle during a contrac- tion, is a key metric of cardiovascular health. Currently, stroke volume is measured in clinic with specialised equipment. While purpose-made wearables exist to mea- sure stroke volume, no solution relies solely on commodity devices. We present a deep learning system for stroke volume estimation from in-ear audio of earbuds. We combine generative self-supervised/transfer learning, a transformer-based autoencoder, to predict average stroke volume in unseen subjects. With data from 23 healthy participants, we compare our estimations to clinically validated device estimations. We achieve a mean absolute error of 5.24 ml, a Pearson correlation of r=0.94 between average predicted stroke volume and average true stroke vol- ume, and a Percentage Error in the limits of agreement of 11.05% (within clinical range for stroke volume measurement devices). These findings open the doors to longitudinal, scalable and affordable cardiovascular measurement out of clinic.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Mascolo et al. (2026) studied Healthy (n=23). In-ear audio sensing via earbuds with deep learning vs. Clinically validated device estimations was evaluated on Average stroke volume estimation (MAE 5.24 ml, r=0.94). In-ear audio sensing via earbuds estimated stroke volume with a mean absolute error of 5.24 ml and a Pearson correlation of r=0.94 compared to clinically validated devices.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: