Researchers awarded grant to analyse coughs via mobile phones
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
STAR Analytical Services has received a $100,000 grant from the Gates Foundation to develop technology that analyses a patient’s cough via a mobile phone to diagnose pneumonia. The investigators hope that their vocal analysis software, which compares a patient’s cough to a pre-recorded database, could improve healthcare in developing countries, where many people have access to mobile phones but live in remote locations. Identifying whether a cough is caused by a bacterial or viral infection could help the right patients receive antibiotics quickly and halt epidemics, the STAR (Bedford, Massachusetts) researchers hope. They currently have a database of several dozen patients, but estimate they will need around 1,000 for the software to be reliable.