[ad_1]
WASHINGTON: A team at the University of Washington has invented a smartphone app that, when used with a paper funnel, is able to detect ear infections in children, helping parents decide if a visit to the doctor is safe. justified.
The application, which has been described in the newspaper Transnational Medicine Science On May 15, a sound like a bird's song is sent into the child's ear cbad via a simple funnel set up by the parents.
He plays for 1.2 seconds, then uses the phone microphone to listen: if fluids or pus have accumulated behind the eardrum, in the middle ear, the sound of the echo returned will indicate an infection.
"The way of thinking is almost like a glbad of wine," said Shyam Gollakota, head of the lab that developed the project.
"And if you tap on the wineglbad, you will get a different sound depending on the level of liquid in the wineglbad."
He had a success rate of 85% when he was tested on a hundred cases and, according to Gollakota, is more accurate than a visual inspection by a doctor.
If an infection is detected, parents will still need to see a doctor for confirmation and prescription.
Gollakota compared its usefulness to that of a thermometer, which helps people decide if a visit to the doctor is appropriate.
The ear infection application is only one of the many ideas developed by the laboratory at the intersection of mobile technology and health.
The goal is to solve some of the most serious health problems that people face at lower cost.
The Gollakota team has also developed another application for detecting sleep apnea and another that warns relatives or friends of someone taking opioids if they appear to be undergoing treatment. overdose.
He hopes to get regulatory approval of the application for ear infections by the end of the year and put it on the market by the beginning here of 2020. – AFP
[ad_2]
Source link
