DeepBreath: Using deep learning to identify respiratory disease

The Pneumoscope © Cyrille Verdon / Renaud Defrancesco BUREAU 141 / EPFL 2023 A new AI algorithm developed at EPFL and University Hospital Geneva (HUG) will power an intelligent stethoscope - Pneumoscope - with the potential to improve the management of respiratory disease in low-resource and remote settings. As air passes through the labyrinth of small passageways in our lungs, it makes a distinctive whooshing sound. When these passageways are constricted with asthmatic inflammation, or get clogged up with the infectious secretions of bronchitis, the sound changes in characteristic ways. Screening for these diagnostic signatures using a stethoscope applied to the chest, a procedure called auscultation, has become an inescapable element of almost every health check-up. Yet, despite two centuries of experience with stethoscopes, the interpretation of auscultation is still highly subjective, where one doctor the next will hear something different. Indeed, depending on where you are in the world, a single sound can be variously described as sizzling, popping candy, Velcro, frying rice, and more. The accuracy is further affected by the level of experience of the health worker and their specialization.