I-Corps: SmartSpiro

肺量测定法，即呼吸的测量，是诊断肺部和呼吸系统疾病的常用测试之一。 今天，患者只能在诊所或医院的肺功能测试实验室进行肺功能测试。由于准确的肺量测定需要专业技术人员的指导，所有诊断性肺量测定只能在这些地点进行。因此，肺量测定的等待时间通常很长，例如在休斯顿需要3个月，即使在印度的大城镇也几乎不可能。 该研究团队将开发SmartSpiro，这是第一款临床级便携式肺量计，将肺量计带给大众。 SmartSpiro的创新之处在于，它通过使用信号处理和机器学习的组合，通过算法发现肺活量测定中的错误，来扮演训练有素的技术人员的角色。目前的原型已经可以以94%的准确度检测到所有主要的肺活量测定错误，并且随着算法的进一步完善，它将得到改进。除了纠错之外，为了提高非专业用户使用SmartSpiro的易用性，该团队还将增加本地语言定制和口语反馈功能。他们还将在肺活量计硬件上设计可定制的激励驱动显示器，以支持更好的患者依从性。SmartSpiro旨在将一种设备商业化，以满足服务不足的患者群体和肺部疾病，例如印度的发展中国家或休斯顿等发达国家的农村地区。此外，SmartSpiro的自动化测试功能将允许在测试实验室之外使用肺功能测定，并支持即时肺部测试（例如，在患者身上？床边），这是目前使用当前的肺活量测定技术不可行的。

Spirometry, the measurement of breath, is one of the commonly used tests in the diagnosis of pulmonary and respiratory illnesses. Today, patients can only have spirometry tests conducted at a clinic or a hospital's Pulmonary Function Test Lab. Since accurate spirometry requires an expert technician's guidance, all diagnostic spirometries can only be conducted at these locations. As a result, the wait times for spirometries are often long, e.g. 3 months in Houston and nearly impossible even in large towns in India. This research team will develop SmartSpiro, the first clinical grade portable spirometer that brings spirometry to the masses. The innovation in SmartSpiro is that it performs a role of a trained technician by algorithmically finding errors in spirometry, using a combination of signal processing and machine learning. Current prototype can already detect all the major spirometry errors with 94% accuracy and it will be improved as algorithms are further refined. In addition to error correction, to improve ease of use SmartSpiro for non-expert users, the team will be adding local language customization and spoken word feedback capabilities. They will also be designing customizable incentive-driven displays on the spirometer hardware to support better patient compliance. SmartSpiro aims to commercialize a device which caters to under-served patient segments and pulmonary conditions, e.g. developing countries in India, or rural areas in the developed countries like Houston. In addition, SmartSpiro's automated test capability will allow for use of spirometry outside of testing labs, and empower point-of-care pulmonary testing (e.g. at the patient?s bedside) which is currently infeasible using current spirometry technology.