Sensing tool 'SpiroCall' can measure your lung function over phone call

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Want to know how your lung is functioning? Well, now you can easily know about it over a simple phone call.

A new health sensing tool has been developed by scientists that can accurately measure lung function over a simple call made using any phone.

People who have asthma, cystic fibrosis or other chronic lung diseases have no way to measure how well their lungs are functioning.

One of the scientists, Shwetak Patel of University of Washington said that with SpiroCall, one can call a 1-800 number, blow into the phone and use the telephone network to test lung function.

SpiroCall transmits the collected audio using a standard phone channel -as opposed to a sound file that is transferred by a smartphone app over the Internet.

The team combined multiple regression algorithms to provide reliable lung function estimates despite degraded audio quality .

The team also developed a 3D printed whistle that can be used in conjunction with SpiroCall that changes pitch when the patient exhales.

(With PTI inputs)