Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. Children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable, and traditional school settings make it easy to spread this particularly contagious disease. Given that students congregate in such close quarters, including classrooms, cafeterias and bus lines, these places can quickly become hot spots for the spread of respiratory illnesses.
Traditional TB testing, including skin tests and chest x-rays, are effective at screening for TB, but can be a logistical nightmare. As more and more schools and universities look to improve overall preventative health measures, the need for smart, non-invasive screening tools has become increasingly critical.
Thanks to the advent of artificial intelligence and innovative technologies, new devices such as Soter Technologies’ AudibleHealthAI are now available for. With over five years in development, this breakthrough new device is changing how TB screening is done in schools. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Challenge of Tuberculosis in Schools
Children with undiagnosed pulmonary TB can inadvertently transmit the tuberculosis bacteria: mycobacterium tuberculosis, to other children and staff members. These create infectious clusters and widespread illness that can create serious health risks, especially in susceptible students. Many schools unfortunately lack the medical infrastructure and personnel to handle routine mass screenings, and relying on students to self-report can result in many missed cases.
Because TB can be a latent infection, individuals can carry and transmit it without showing obvious symptoms, which complicates the screening process. Large-scale clinical testing campaigns can also cause disruption, as these require coordination with medical providers and can lead to student and parent anxiety. All of these issues combine to create a number of gaps in early detection efforts, which increases the risk of transmission.
AI-Powered Cough Recognition: How it Works
One of the more unique hallmarks of TB is surprisingly, the sound of a cough. Tuberculosis tends to produce coughs that sound different from the cough from your typical cold virus. A typical cough from either colds or the flu starts off sounding dry and sharp, whereas TB tends to sound like a more productive, heavy, rattling cough. Not only this, but the cough typically has a longer duration and even a different sound frequency.
These differences might be imperceptible to the human ear, but not to advanced AI. In fact, artificial intelligence has an impressive track record when it comes to the accuracy of differentiating what makes a cough a “TB cough” versus a cough from some other respiratory ailment like a cold or even asthma.
All of this is made possible through a smartphone app. By “listening” to the sound of a cough, the AI model can quickly detect common respiratory disease signatures, including (and perhaps most importantly) those associated with tuberculosis. This means schools can sidestep the need for invasive tests and specialized equipment and make ongoing screening easy and hassle-free.
Introducing AudibleHealth AI from Soter Technologies
Soter Technologies is proud to announce our latest development, AudibleHealth AI. This platform is designed specifically for TB screening in K-12 schools. With over five years of development experience and backed by clinical validation, AudibleHealth AI is a non-invasive and cost-effective way to detect potential TB infections before they spread.
AudibleHealthAI uses the same underlying sensor technology of Soter’s flagship FlySense devices for vape detection and bullying detection AudibleHealth AI leverages this environmental monitoring and puts it to work in respiratory health scenarios. Thanks to its simple smartphone app (or optional medical-grade recording device), the system paves the way for fast, easy deployment across a variety of school systems and educational infrastructures.
AudibleHealth AI delivers results in as little as 30 seconds, flagging potential TB cases almost immediately and allowing for faster, proper intervention.
How it Works in Just Three Simple Steps
Step 1: The first step of the process is to use either a smartphone or the optional medical-grade recording device. The student or staff member then coughs into the app for about ten seconds.
Step 2: The recording of the cough is then uploaded to Soter Technologies’ secure cloud area where deep-learning models compare it to thousands of cough samples to detect the specific “TB” acoustic biomarkers that denote a potential tuberculosis cough.
Step 3: Within 30 seconds, AudibleHealth AI returns a screening result. The result lets health staff triage the patient to confirm test results or isolate them immediately if necessary. Plus, AudibleHealth AI requires minimal training for school nurses and causes very little interruption to the school day or regular activities.
School officials will also be glad to know that AudibleHealth AI meets or exceeds the World Health Organization’s minimum triage specifications for TB screening and has been validated for use across a variety of school age groups and environments.
Getting Started with AudibleHealth AI
To get started with AudibleHealth AI, simply download the app on a school-issued device or set up a medical-grade recorder. With minimal training on how to position the microphone and navigate the app, health staff can start using the program within 15 minutes.
From there, it’s up to school professionals to decide how to manage screening protocols. For example, depending on the severity of an outbreak, officials may opt for weekly screenings versus symptom-triggered screenings. The app allows for configurable automated reminders to help everyone stay on track.
Next, designate a health coordinator to review flagged cases within 30 seconds after they’re identified by the app. From there the coordinator can arrange for confirmation testing either by way of a skin test or GeneXpert for a positive screen. Integrate the app within school health manuals and include AI-based cough screening procedures as part of the parental consent form.
Then, use the app’s dashboard to monitor screening update, TB positivity rates, and follow-up compliance, adjusting the frequency of testing or communications as needed.
At Soter Technologies, we take student privacy seriously. AudibleHealth AI only analyzes acoustic biomarkers of coughs. It does not store voice recordings. It also transmits anonymized data and complies with both FERPA and COPPA guidelines. Schools keep full control over data access at all times, and based on local district policies, can purge records accordingly.
Learn more or get started on our AudibleHealth AI page or contact us directly to get started.
