Oura, the company behind the Oura Ring line of Wearable Devices, today announced that the third generation of Oura Ring will include blood oxygen sensor. Last fall, Oura showed off the feature. Oura says it will be able to deliver a more comprehensive assessment of sleep health to owners of its newest flagship product.
The Oura Ring measures SpO2 by shining light into a wearer's finger and using the reflections to estimate how much oxygen is in the blood. Poorly oxygenated blood reflects more red light than it does the other way around.
The technique is called pulse oximetry, and it has been used in a number of Wearable Devices. Studies show that pulse oximetry is fairly accurate. Experts say that it is not clinical grade. The metrics provided by the Oura Ring aren't meant to diagnose conditions.
The Oura Ring has two metrics on top of its blood oxygen measurement. Average blood oxygen estimates the percentage of oxygen in the blood, while breathing regularity tries to detect unusual breathing patterns throughout the night or any nap longer than three hours
If you want the average blood oxygen and breathing regularity to be turned on, you must turn it on. Oura notes that the third-gen Oura Ring's battery life "may be a bit shorter than usual" when the blood oxygen sensor is active.
The Oura Ring has seen a number of ups and downs in recent years. When the smart ring was first introduced, Oura said that it would take a $6-per-month plan to get certain features. Customers were frustrated because few of the features were available at the start.
Oura has been trying to correct the ship despite internal instability. The subscription fee would be deferred for six months. Improvements to the heart rate tracking came in May, with the upgraded sleep- tracking coming this fall. It is hoped that this will give some solace to the early Adopters.
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