Amazon Patents Biometric Mentoring Feature for Alexa Devices

• Amazon Alexa will soon be able to tell if you are ill using voice activity.
• The patent was filed recently which seeks to offer a voice-based determination of physical and emotional characteristics of users.
• There is no official word on when the feature will be implemented to the smart speakers and if it will be available on existing devices or new Alexa speakers.

Biometric monitoring has been available for quite some time, but Amazon wants to take it to the next level with a new patent being filed by the e-commerce giant. Amazon Alexa devices will soon be able to analyze your well-being and sicknesses using your voice data. Amazon’s ambitious venture may allow it to edge past other smart speakers even further in the smart speakers market.

Amazon Alexa has been dominating the world of smart speakers, and with competition coming from the likes of Facebook Portal and Google Home devices, the company wants to up its game. Upon analysis of the patent, it was found that the voice interaction between users of Alexa devices and the audio content recorded will allow the speaker to determine any abnormal physical or emotional conditions that a user may be suffering from.

The patent is not about medical features alone. Amazon will be taking advantage of the patent to offer targeted advertising. The patent states “A current physical and/or emotional condition of the user may facilitate the ability to provide highly targeted audio content, such as audio advertisements or promotions, to the user.”

The patent also may allow Alexa to analyze and inform users about their ailments even without the user specifically to ask for an analysis. The patent revealed that technology would analyze not only a user’s voice but also their tone, which can indicate things like stress, fatigue or frustrations. Coughs and sniffles will be identified as well to recommend remedies. The feature has not been officially confirmed to the public by Amazon, and there is no word on when it will be coming to Alexa users.

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