Large-scale Training of Foundation Models for Wearable Biosignals

Summary

Apple Research presents what is arguably the first large-scale foundation model study using consumer-wearable PPG and ECG data. Prior biosignal FM work relied on clinical or experimental datasets; this work uses longitudinal data collected under informed consent from the Apple Heart and Movement Study (AHMS), covering roughly 141,000 participants over ~3 years. Two separate foundation models are trained: one for PPG, one for ECG.