A hospital in LA will soon start using Amazon Echo speakers in some patients’ rooms

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Smart technology and speakers like the Amazon Echo and Google Home have a ton of functionality and now, the Echo will get to stretch its legs a bit in the world of healthcare. Cedars-Sinai, a hospital located in Los Angeles, will start using the speakers in 100 rooms.

The Amazon Echo speakers will be a part of the “Aiva” system. This system is a voice-activated system for hospitals that should help patients with various tasks, as well as get in contact with doctors and nurses.

More about Aiva and use of the Echo speakers

At a base level, it will help patients with things like changing channels on the in-room TV, but the application goes far beyond that.

In addition to hands-free controls, patients will be able to prompt Aiva and ask it a question regarding their care. That request will then be routed to the appropriate person via a smartphone app. For example, if a patient is in need of medicine, the request will go to a nurse. If no one responds to the request, the system will “reroute the request ‘up the chain of command.‘”

The Echo devices will also be equipped to handle typical Alexa tasks. Patients will be able to have audiobooks read to them, inquire about the weather, and play music through the device.

What do you think? Will this be helpful in hospitals? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Apple seems to finally be looking into sleep tracking on the Apple Watch
• Huawei’s Mate X foldable phone runs $2,600 and looks better than the Samsung Fold
• Apple Music is finally making its way to Google Home devices soon
• Thankfully, you can now map the Samsung Bixby button to do things that are actually helpful
• Samsung’s foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold, doesn’t come with a headphone jack

Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.