Medical Design Briefs - July 2023 - 26

therapy, all guided by the cough patterns
and trends of each person seeking
treatment.
In the place of a physician asking,
" How is your cough? " and an unsure patient's
reply, " Um, it's pretty bad doc, "
acoustic AI gives us the tools to know the
exact number and timing of coughs. It
enables us to count the number and duration
of bouts of multiple coughs. We
can time the silences between coughs,
when people with problematic cough
get some respite. And we can precisely
identify inflection points when cough
patterns change, enabling prediction of
COPD exacerbations, asthma attacks,
and heading off emergency rooms trips
before they are needed.
In low- and middle-income countries,
community health workers, equipped
with basic smartphones, will be able to
help identify hard-to-find cases of tuberculosis,
getting more people in treatment,
increasing medication adherence, and
reducing the spread of drug-resistant
strains. Cough science will also improve
our ability to diagnose children with malaria
and pneumonia, two of the leading
causes of childhood death globally.
The insights from cough monitoring
will complement other streams of data
to suggest best, evidence-based interventions
promoting long term health:
from prompting us to breathe through
our nose to seamlessly controlling our
indoor air quality through smart home
devices, in cases of symptoms related
to pollen, smoke, or smog. Infections
will be detected earlier, even before we
can notice the onset of symptoms.
Management of chronic illness will
perhaps benefit the most, by promoting
and rewarding individualized, holistic
interventions that improve quality
of life.
Finally, syndromic acoustic surveillance
will have immense value for public
health systems around the world, spotting
new pathogens and variants before
they have spread. Acoustic AI will give us
the ability to detect deviations from typical
levels of cough quickly, allowing ultrafast,
targeted screening and efficient
prevention measures to be put in place
in a timely manner.
This article was written by Mindaugas
Galvosas, MD, Medical Officer and
Business Development, and Reid Moorsmith,
Chief Experience Officer at Hyfe
AI, Wilmington, DE. Dr. Galvosas is pioneering
the field of acoustic epidemiology,
cough monitoring, and end-to-end
digital cough products at Hyfe. He is
previously the co-founder of digital
health startup Aichom, which built software
to support families of people with
dementia. As CEO, Reid leads the app
and wearables business. Reid translates
consumer wants and needs into product
and market-building opportunities. He
has run operations for global organizations
in places such as Liberia and
Myanmar and is based in Vancouver,
BC. For more information, visit www.
hyfe.ai.
Disruption Is on the Horizon: Trends in Precision Surgery
Expect a shift away from
legacy technologies.
Proprio
Seattle, WA
Medical technology is nearing the
brink of a large-scale disruption. Attitudes
are shifting, and there is a renewed
focus on interoperability and
data. Throughout 2023, I'm excited to
see clinical influencers increasingly engaged
to apply their expertise to clinical
product development. Companies will
be tapping these experts for insight into
developing new technologies. We'll also
see legacy technologies begin to evolve
with advancement in surgical navigation.
The medical technology industry is
ripe for disruption, and we can expect
to see a shift away from legacy technologies
and to see new navigational tools
enter the marketplace as we step into
the future.
n Designing New Technologies with
Interoperability as the Focus
Across the patient care continuum,
there are quantities of valuable and dense
pockets of data generated every minute. In
fact, a conversation I had just last week
with a clinical influencer who says, " Everything
is a data point, " and they are absolutely
right. The future of healthcare will
develop technologies that utilize this data
with interoperability as the focus. By understanding
and applying patient and clinical
data, it will unlock new insights and
extract value from operational data that
we have yet to see in healthcare. Throughout
2023, we can expect to see increased
interest in developing systems and technology
that is capable of extracting electronic
health data across multiple systems,
linking that data to common standards
and finally providing that data intelligently
to point of care at the appropriate time.
The future will embrace new applications with interoperability and data insights as the focus that will benefit patient
outcomes. (Credit: ZinetroN/AdobeStock)
26
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n Clinical Influencers Take Center
Stage in Product Development
Due to the complexity of medical technology,
it is important to collaborate with
Medical Design Briefs, July 2023

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Medical Design Briefs - July 2023

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