HealthMode Cough uses smartphones that most people already have in their pocket to accurately count coughs, one of the three main symptoms of COVID-19. From patient triage to population health surveillance and vaccine trials, the opportunities for HealthMode Cough to help during this pandemic are broad.
Current Status
We have a portfolio of digital measures: https://healthmode.com/pipeline.html
Specifically related to COVID-19: HealthMode Cough is a fully developed smartphone application, connecting to a secure cloud back-end for data storage and processing. It’s reliability and feasibility has been tested in a chronic cough patient population. The core of HelathMode Cough technology is a machine learning model trained to classify the collected audio data and yield the result in the form of cough sound counts. The model was initially developed with publicly available data, and later used in a clinical setting to assess patient-collected data. HealthMode Cough system gained traction with various academic, industry and medical expert partners, aiming to be deployed in clinical research of cough and respiratory symptoms.
Problem or Opportunity
- Lack of continuous representative data collection in trials and therapy. Current cough frequency monitors used usually in 24 hour window administered with low frequency in the course of trial or therapy. - Snapshot approach. In-hospital or in-clinic assessments are too few and out of context of patient’s day-to-day activity, while suffering from random sampling issues that may mask change over time. - Subjectivity of PROs. Individual’s self perceptions influenced by confounding factors. - Lack of longitudinal passive measurements. Patients lack continuous indicators of their status, which can lead to inappropriate decision making regarding healthcare seeking behaviors.
Solution (product or service)
HealthMode Cough is a smartphone application that records sounds fr om the smartphone’s built-in microphone and transfers the sound files in encrypted form to the cloud storage wh ere the data is processed to quantify cough sounds and cough frequency progresses over time. HealthMode Cough has been tested for capabilities of long-period audio data recording and data processing to automatically detect cough sounds from the collected audio data. In the light of the recent COVID-19 pandemics, HealthMode Cough technology has been deployed to collect cough sounds to a) assess cough characteristics associated with the novel disease, b) allow individual- and population- level monitoring of cough symptom during disease outbreak. Users are able to record and contribute their cough sounds via various means, such as the HealthMode Cough application, a phone number or a website with audio recording functionality. Each of these modes of entry have been approved by central IRB.
Competitors
Companies that would be normally considered as competition are oftentimes the ones we are already working with or actively exploring the potential for cooperation.
Providers of technology monitoring solutions currently used in the market: The Leicester Cough Monitor Vitalograph Health Care Originals
Advantages or differentiators
Starting with the right measurement problems Clinical domain expertise Apps and devices patients want to use Optimal hardware and software stack Creative study designs Systematic pursuit of parallel validation pathways Revenue streams during development Best in class analytics Market plans that enable diverse commercialization options
Money will be spent on
Further enhancement of technology Robust clinical validation FDA Clearance
