Asthma or croup? Your phone can tell from the sound of a...

Asthma or croup? Your phone can tell from the sound of a cough

Publicly released: Thu 6 Jun 2019 at 1000 AEST | 1200 NZST

A smartphone app that analyses the sound of a child's cough to determine its cause has been developed by Australian researchers. The smartphone app was able to diagnose asthma, croup, pneumonia, lower respiratory tract disease and bronchiolitis, with between 81 and 97 per cent accuracy. The researchers used a similar technology to the speech recognition used by Siri and Alexa to train the app to recognise features of coughs which are found in five different respiratory diseases. The researchers then tested the app on almost 600 children and found it was highly accurate when compared to diagnosis by a panel of paediatricians. The researchers say it could be a useful tool for remote families, removing the need for a clinical examination and allowing treatments to begin sooner.

Journal/conference: Respiratory Research
Organisation/s: Curtin University, The University of Queensland

Funder: ResApp Health provided funding to support the Breathe Easy Program at JHC and UQ. Joondalup Health Campus provided office space, IT services and consumables in kind. PP and UA are scientific advisors and shareholders in ResApp Health. UA is ResApp Health’s Chief Scientist. ResApp Health is commercialising the technology under license from the University of Queensland, where UA is employed. UA and VS are named inventors of the UQ technology. DS, JB and PD declare no competing interests. TN, JT, VS and JC are shareholders in ResApp Health.

Media Release

From: Springer Nature
Childhood respiratory disorders may be diagnosed with a smartphone
Automated cough analysis technology incorporated in a smartphone app could help to diagnose childhood respiratory disorders, according to a study published in the open access journal Respiratory Research.
Researchers at Curtin University and The University of Queensland, Australia, showed that a smartphone app had high accuracy (between 81% and 97%) in diagnosing asthma, croup, pneumonia, lower respiratory tract disease and bronchiolitis.
Dr Paul Porter, corresponding author of the study, said: “It can be difficult to differentiate between respiratory disorders in children, even for experienced doctors. This study demonstrates how new technology, mathematical concepts, machine learning and clinical medicine can be successfully combined to produce completely new diagnostic tests utilising the expertise of several disciplines.”
To develop the app, the authors used similar technology to that used in speech recognition, which they trained to recognise features of coughs which are characteristic of five different respiratory diseases. The researchers then used the app to categorise the coughs of 585 children between ages 29 days to 12 years who were being cared for at two hospitals in Western Australia. The accuracy of the automated cough analyser was determined by comparing its diagnosis to a diagnosis reached by a panel of paediatricians after they had reviewed results of imaging, laboratory findings, hospital charts and conducted all available clinical investigations.
The authors note that the technology developed for this study is able to provide a diagnosis without the need for clinical examination by a doctor in person, addressing a major limiting feature of existing telehealth consultations, which are used to provide clinical services remotely. Removing the need for a clinical examination may allow targeted treatments to begin sooner.
Dr Porter said: “As the tool does not rely on clinical investigations, it can be used by health care providers of all levels of training and expertise. However, we would advise that where possible the tool should be used in conjunction with a clinician to maximise the clinical accuracy.”

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