![\"Mobile](\"https:\/\/dev.vijeejournalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/acoustic-stethoscope-model2-color-corrected-1-920x526.jpg\")
<\/a>Take a deep breath before you read this: A team from MIT has built the world\u2019s first USB-powered mobile stethoscope. Plugged into a smartphone, its companion app transforms the device into a low-cost diagnostic tool, which health workers and nonspecialist physicians can use to diagnose lung disease.<\/p>\n
Diseases of the lungs \u2014 such as pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, and lung cancer \u2014 cause more than 14 percent of deaths worldwide. Others like asthma reduce the quality of a person\u2019s life. These diseases hit the developing world the hardest, because the major risk factors \u2014 air pollution, indoor cooking on coal fires, and smoking \u2014 are more prevalent there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, there aren\u2019t enough specialists to see the patients and many of the general practitioners lack training in diagnosing pulmonary diseases,\u201d said Daniel Chamberlain, a second year graduate student in MIT\u2019s Technology and Policy Program, who is building the electronic stethoscope. He is also a fellow at the Tata Center for Technology and Design.<\/p>\n
Rich Fletcher, a research scientist at the institute\u2019s D-Lab, is the principal investigator on this mobile-based stethoscope project. He and Chamberlain are collaborating with Rahul Kodgule, a physician and senior researcher at the Chest Research Foundation in Pune, India, to field test the design. This will be the world\u2019s first comprehensive clinical study to diagnose pulmonary disease using a mobile platform.<\/p>\n
The traditional method of diagnosing lung disease requires large expensive machines costing over $100,000. \u201cOur method just requires a mobile stethoscope and a peak flow meter (it measures how well your lungs expel air), that together cost less than $50 and will work with any Android smart phone, which many doctors in India have already,\u201d said Fletcher.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the team won $100,000 in the Wireless Innovation Project contest sponsored by Vodafone Americas Foundation. The annual competition, which supports high-potential mobile and wireless technology solutions, is now in its seventh year. Typically, the award-winning innovations pertain to health.<\/p>\n
Doctors use the stethoscope to listen closely to the sounds of the patient\u2019s body, then ask questions. They can tell when a wheeze, a common symptom of various lung diseases, needs to be investigated further. Their intuition is born of experience.<\/p>\n
Fletcher explains how their mobile-based system works: The stethoscope records the wheezes. A peak flow meter records how well a patient\u2019s chest expels air. The patient answers a questionnaire. The software takes the lung sounds and the other data, runs an analysis, and provides diagnostic feedback to the physician or health worker. \u201cThese algorithms are our true innovation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe system can act as a screening tool to flag patients for a more thorough check-up,\u201d said Chamberlain.<\/p>\n
The funding from Vodafone will enable the team to field test their system designed to diagnose pulmonary disease. \u201cThe results of our platform will be compared against the gold standard, which is the $100,000 pulmonary function-testing lab,\u201d says Fletcher.<\/p>\n
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