During CES 2022, Highmark Health and Bosch announced their collaboration to research and deploy breakthrough sensor technology to capture deep audio using high-fidelity microphones, AI, and machine learning to analyze the sound to see if pulmonary diseases like asthma may be recognized. The research is conducted at the International Space Station (ISS) with Bosch SoundSee to analyze system performance.
The collaboration would employ AI-enabled sensor technologies to listen for auditory clues that could help with patient diagnosis, similar to how doctors use a stethoscope on a patient’s chest to identify aberrant audio patterns. Deep audio AI-based diagnostic results can be submitted to a doctor for further analysis and advised action.
Goal towards health
In the first quarter of 2022, the Pediatric Institute of Allegheny Health Network (AHN) will commence clinical investigations. AHN pediatrician and chair of the Pediatric Institute, Dr. Joseph Aracri, will undertake the first feasibility study on a small group of pediatric patients. During their clinical appointment with the doctor, children will have a high-resolution microphone to capture sounds while they speak and breathe. In addition to the child’s diagnosis, the noises will be analyzed and incorporated into AI and machine learning algorithms.
Highmark Health’s senior research data scientist, Kelly J. Shields, Ph.D., shares that they aim to explore technological breakthroughs that can improve the patients’ and members’ health and wellness.
Audio AI to improve on detecting pulmonary conditions
Bosch’s SoundSee technology aboard the ISS is connected to NASA’s free-flying Astrobee robot to “performs AI-driven analytics on audio data from the station’s systems and equipment to develop fully autonomous sensing capabilities to gauge system performance and predict maintenance needs.” By capturing audio patterns from the various equipment on the ISS with built-in microphones, the technology would be able to analyze characteristics and anomalies on board.
Dr. Samarjit Das, leader of the Intelligent Internet of Things department at Bosch Research in Pittsburgh, explains that the company’s aim for SoundSee technology is for its AI to benefit humans in the future. In addition to environmental audio event recognition and machine health monitoring, Bosch has won many patents for its SoundSee AI technology.
YouTube: CES 2022: Audio AI for pediatric medicine
Photo credits: The images used are owned by Bosch and have been provided for press usage.
Source: Bosch press release
