Smartphones could be the key to widespread COVID-19 testing
Amy J. Born | May 15, 2020
Accurate and sufficient testing is an important tool for curbing the spread of COVID-19 in order to safely re-open the country. A research team, led by Wei Gao, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, is working on a way to use smartphones to make inexpensive, non-invasive at-home testing readily available to a large population, without the need for clinicians or special medical equipment.
The idea is to develop the acoustic sensing capabilities of the microphones and speakers in smartphones to measure the changes in human airway mechanics associated with COVID-19 infection. This includes designing new acoustic waveforms to minimize signal distortion and using artificial intelligence techniques to identify carriers of the virus. This work will likely be applicable to other respiratory diseases as well.
The system will be available as an easily accessible smartphone app but users will need an adapter to use as a mouthpiece in order to transmit and record the acoustic signals. The widespread use of an at-home test that accurately identifies people with COVID-19 without the need for a hospital visit would help contain the spread of the virus.
This project received funding from the National Science Foundation through its RAPID award program in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and is a collaborative effort with Heng Huang, John A. Jurenko Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Pittsburgh, and clinicians at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital.
This could salvage the economy. If the flareups can be identified, then just those areas need to be locked down. The rest of the country could keep on working. Massive testing should have been started at the beginning of the pandemic. This development needs to be accelerated.
My phone already has the required adapter For digitising sound waves for analysis. It’s called the microphone
Unlike the United States that spent its time trying to tweet the virus away, China used the lock down time to create a system to track its people using their smart phones, get systems in place, people hired and deployed and police increased to deal with malcontents. No smart phone you no go out. Don't use the system you go to jail for two weeks. You broke quarantine and now you have to isolate. They just don't make it nice because they want the behavior to change. This I learned from a coworker in China. It's nice to work for DuPont. We can easily communicate with colleagues around the world as hear first hand what other countries are doing.
Now go learn about what a modern country did because this idea presented here is three months behind China and does not look anywhere near as robust.
https://www.pbs.org/
If we implement this system ALONG WITH ADEQUATE TESTING the economy can be safely reopened. Which does not seem to be what our government wants despite all the rhetoric.
In reply to #3
I agree. However, there would be so much opposition due to privacy it will never go here. We know the government will misuse it. But that can be fixed later. First things first.
In reply to #4
True. You and I remember a very different America. One where we didn't intentionally injure our fellow citizens. (well I am sure black folks would remember it differently)
Can you imagine what would have happened if some armed fools stood on the statehouse steps in 1942 and demanded the Germans be treated fairly?
In reply to #5
HEY HEY