We’ve written many times about how digital voice samples can be used to diagnose or detect disease and conditions ranging from depression to asthma, from COPD to COVID-19. This is a triumph of mobile technology and artificial intelligence. But now comes news that could put this process in the hands of many smartphone users worldwide.
Up to this point, most of the voice biomarker services require sending the voice sample data to the cloud for analysis. Now comes news that Sonde Health is partnering with Qualcomm to optimize Sonde’s vocal biomarker technology for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon smartphone processors. Qualcomm processors drive about three out of 10 smartphones worldwide.
This means that the vocal biomarker monitoring can be made available as an option for users of these phones. With a simple opt-in, the phone will be able to monitor users’ health just by processing the sound of their voice as they use the phone. Since the data will reside in the phone, there is no security risk of sending it to the cloud for processing. And users will get the results much faster.
This new technology could make life easier for patients with asthma or other chronic conditions, as the phone could log their daily health. But more than this, the technology could lead to widespread and continuous screening of healthy patients for possible diseases. This could lead to earlier diagnosis, faster treatment, and better outcomes at lower cost.
