A proof-of-concept study demonstrated that the device captures lung sounds with accuracy comparable to a digital stethoscope.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- Technology Validation: The study demonstrated that OmnySense’s self-operated smart device reliably captures and analyzes lung sounds, with diagnostic accuracy comparable to that of a digital stethoscope.
- Implications for Remote Care: The findings suggest that the device could play a role in remote respiratory assessments.
- Addressing Home Care Challenges: The study highlights the device’s potential to overcome difficulties in obtaining accurate respiratory data in home settings.
Israeli digital health startup OmnySense, in partnership with Wolfson Medical Center, reported positive results from a proof-of-concept study that validated the effectiveness of its self-operated device in capturing and analyzing lung sounds for remote respiratory assessments.
Obtaining clinically relevant information about respiratory conditions presents a unique challenge in a home setting. According to OmnySense, existing solutions face “real-world” challenges. Home stethoscopes require the presence of a skilled caregiver to perform the checkup, while adherence to home spirometers has been poor.
OmnySense is developing a solution that provides the home user with an informed medical assessment at home, powered by medical language models. The company’s thermometer-shaped device captures a dataset of clinical parameters simultaneously and consistently, including respiratory data, cardiac data, and vital signs.
This dataset, together with the patient’s symptoms and medical history, is analyzed using medical language models to provide an automatic assessment directly to the user, which can be shared with a remote physician, caregiver, etc.
OmnySense’s algorithms analyze the soundwaves captured by a microphone at the tip of the device, which is placed inside the closed mouth. These algorithms derive the respiratory rate and I:E ratio and also quantify wheezes and crackles.
Assessing the Handheld Device
The proof-of-concept study, published in Discover Applied Sciences, was conducted at the Wolfson Medical Center.
Researchers compared how well the handheld device and a digital stethoscope detected lung sounds such as crackles and wheezes. They recorded 385 lung sound samples from 13 patients, which were blindly and independently assessed by three experienced physicians.
The evaluations of crackles were found to be fairly consistent whether the physicians used the device or the stethoscope. When comparing the device with the stethoscope, there was moderate agreement on wheezes and substantial agreement on crackles. Both the device and the stethoscope demonstrated similar accuracy in diagnosing lung conditions when compared to imaging results.
“Our findings suggest that the diagnostic performance of OmnySense’s self-operated device is similar to that of physician interpretation using a digital stethoscope. Thus, it has the potential to become a useful tool in remote assessment of respiratory conditions and pathologies,” Dr Doron Menachemi, lead investigator and head of internal medical department F at the Brunner Institute for Cardiovascular Research, Wolfson Medical Center, says in a release.
Yossi Aldar, CEO of OmnySense, adds in a release, “We are very encouraged by the positive study results. We strongly believe that the ability of patients at home to get an automatic assessment—as opposed to just symptom reporting—will empower those patients to make informed decisions and receive optimal care.”
Photo caption: OmnySense’s self-operated lung sound assessment device
Photo credit: OmnySense
