Jabra, maker of wireless sports headphones that offer in-ear coaching and fitness tracking with a companion app, has teamed up with online, physician-directed fitness and nutrition coaching program TrainerMD to offer Jabra's newest products in a pilot study that will test out how wearables might fit in as part of a prescribed health program.

The program, 360 Health, is a HIPAA-compliant software collaboration platform for patients, physicians and trainers. Enrolled patients will use one of Jabra's recently launched products, Jabra Sport Pulse. The headphones are an an updated version of their previous device, and brings in peak oxygen uptake (VO2 max) measurement capabilities. (Jabra's other new offering, Sport Coach, has motion sensors).

TrainerMD believes the program is suited for patients managing various conditions, including those looking to better manage weight, stress and diabetes, as well as patients with cancer and chronic pain. 

Patients enrolled in the program will use the Sport Pulse headphones to stream workout data, including heart rate, calories and pace to a secure TrainerMD dashboard. The patients' medical team, which includes both healthcare and fitness professionals, will receive real-time notifications on the patients' exercise patterns and vitals, which they can then integrate into their ongoing recommendations for improved health. TrainerMD subscribers will receive regular motivational coaching and accountability check-ins, and also have the opportunity to attend two physician or trainer-directed group support workshops each month.

"It's a game changer for patients and healthcare providers across the country," TrainerMD's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Scott Lutch said in a statement. "Not only can patients now educate themselves, but they're empowered to take control of their health – and physicians, trainers and nurses are partners in all of that."

The 360 Health Program is currently in pre-enrollment phase and will officially launch later this year. Future interations will enable users to navigate the TrainerMD platform using verbal commands through the Jabra headset and transcribe the information into the TrainerMD personal health management dashboard.

So, about those headphones: Both the Sport Pulse, which will be used in the TrainerMD program, and the Sport Coach are powered by Valencell technology. They measure temperature, cadence, heart rate and other indicators while syncing to music, displaying metrics on the smartphone and providing notifications in the user’s ear. The Sport Pulse Special Edition headphones, which also have noise-cancelling, music and phone call capabilities, work with the existing heart rate monitor and companion Sports Life App to calculate peak oxygen uptake, and are designed with running in mind. The Sport Coach Special Edition, intended for use in the gym, has an automatic repetition function via a motion sensor called TrackFit. 

The TrackFit motion sensor detects movement, working with the Sport Life App to count, log and advise when to move on to the next exercise. From the launch, the app will be able to automatically count 10 of the most commonly performed exercises, including push-ups and lunges, and updates to the app will gradually increase the number of exercises it can count over time.

In July, the company demonstrated the Sport Pulse at the Wearables Technology conference in San Francisco. At the time, Adam Robertson said the “hearable wearable,” is “what happens when all of these different aspects come together and are actually turned into a consumer product.”

Jabra launched its original Sport Pulse two years ago, bringing its first in-ear biometric heart rate earbuds into the market. The updated versions reflect the increasing sophistication of people who use fitness trackers – the VO2 Max level is a standard for aerobic fitness testing – as well as the increasing desire to plan and track workouts.

"We have made great strides with our sports headphones over the last two years. And from a strong start I'm really excited that Jabra can now deliver next generation sports headphones with better sound, more options for a perfect fit and a host of world-first sports features,” Jabra CEO Rene Svendsen-Tune said in a statement.