STTR Phase I: Remote assessment of respiratory function in hospital patients based on speech acoustics (COVID-19)

这一小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是开发流行病期间远程评估呼吸功能的新方法。目前的肺部评估方法需要在诊所就诊，它们会引起咳嗽和飞沫形成，从而增加疾病传播的风险。为了减少传播风险，这些评估仅限于那些需要立即治疗的评估。该项目开发的算法将允许医生通过患者使用自己的个人移动的设备提供的语音远程监测患者的呼吸功能。当开发的算法被集成到远程医疗平台时，更广泛的影响被放大。该项目中开发的基础设施和算法将实现新的远程监测模式，消除地理和成本障碍，扩大医疗保健的参与，并有可能缓解呼吸系统疾病患者的健康差异。这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目将开发和展示一种用于远程评估呼吸功能的新方法。关键的技术创新是开发了一组基于声学的测量指标，这些指标可以指示呼吸功能，并且可以从患者的个人移动终端远程收集，而不需要额外的硬件。对于COVID-19用例，患者移动的设备上的移动的应用程序将引导患者完成一系列语音诱导任务，向医疗保健提供者返回特定于上下文的呼吸评估。该算法将集成到现有的API中，并提供给战略合作伙伴。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is the development of new approaches for remote assessment of respiratory function during pandemics. Current pulmonary assessment methods require in-clinic visits and they induce coughing and droplet formation, thereby increasing the risk of disease spread. To reduce transmission risk these assessments have been limited to only those required for immediate treatment. The algorithms developed in this project will allow doctors to remotely monitor patients’ respiratory function via speech provided by patients using their own personal mobile devices. The broader impact is amplified when the developed algorithms are integrated into telemedicine platforms. The infrastructure and algorithms to be developed in this project will enable new remote monitoring paradigms that remove geographic and cost barriers and broaden participation in healthcare, with the potential to relieve the magnitude of health disparities for persons with respiratory conditions. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will develop and demonstrate a novel approach for remote assessment of respiratory function. The critical technical innovation is the development of a panel of acoustic-based measures that index respiratory function and can be collected remotely from a patient’s personal mobile device without the need for additional hardware. For the purpose of the COVID-19 use case, a mobile application on the patient’s mobile device will guide the patient through a series of speech elicitation tasks, returning a context-specific assessment of respiration to the healthcare provider. The algorithms will be integrated within an existing API and be available to strategic partners.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.