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Giving the Humble Stethoscope an AI Upgrade Could Save Millions of Kids (ieee.org)
the_newsbeagle writes: The stethoscope is a ubiquitous medical tool that has barely changed since it was invented in the early 1800s. But now a team of engineers, doctors, and public health researchers have come together to reinvent the tool using adaptive acoustics and AI. Their motivation is this statistic: Every year, nearly 1 million kids die of pneumonia around the world, with most deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The death toll is highest among children under the age of 5. The researchers, from Johns Hopkins University, designed a smart stethoscope for use by unskilled workers in noisy medical clinics. It uses a dynamic audio filtering system to remove ambient noise and distracting body sounds while not interfering with the subtle sounds from the lungs. And it uses AI to analyze the cleaned-up signal and provide a diagnosis.
I've noticed that doctors barely use the thing anymore except for its symbolic value. Put on prominent display, it signals "look out, I went to medical school!"
I've even had one arrogant turd of a doctor have a highly polished untouched stethoscope on display on his desk... unused.
has an AI for an AI.
We are no fucking closer to AI than any of you turds are to Milla Jovovich.
The main reason kids in impoverished nations are dying of pneumonia is the lack of electronic AI stethoscopes. Hopefully these guys have a startup and start shipping soon.
This article sounded a lot more interesting when I misread the title.
This is the stuff AI (or what passes for AI) can help solve- all sorts of fiddly problems that can benefit from the introduction of a "smart tool". I'm all for smarter gadgets and diagnostics that can help give regular/untrained people the ability to deal with various problems.
I mean, HELLO, this is what computers are meant to do- to help us do things we couldn't otherwise do.
Sure, maybe the wizards at the Mayo Clinic won't use it, but they aren't the target audience. I can see where this could be useful in all sorts of circumstances. On the battlefield, for one, but also in places where people trained to decipher the sounds heard through a stethoscope are far and few between.
It's like the super-simple AEDs (Automated External Defibrillator) that you see in offices and stores- they're simple enough that almost anyone can use one to restart a heart. My office has one and looks pretty straightforward to use.
Gadgets like a smarter stethoscope could help save some lives, and that's a good thing.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
And it will only cost ten times what a normal one would AND the yearly software license will be so affordable!
https://www.resapphealth.com.au/resapp-reports-positive-preliminary-results-from-smartcough-c-2-study-for-diagnosis-of-childhood-respiratory-disease-using-cough-sounds/
This company's trying to do the same with smartphone
Humble Stethoscope and Hubble Telescope looked a bit too similar for my coffee-lacking brain.
All those years sine the 1800s and they haven't been able to upgrade it with a simple heating pad? I've had some stethoscopes on my chest and back that could give me pneumonia all on their own.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
... bullshit bingo.
It has "AI" and "for the children" in the subject, so we are starting strong today.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I've even had one arrogant turd of a doctor have a highly polished untouched stethoscope on display on his desk... unused.
You know a stethoscope serves usually to listen, e.g. to your lungs or your heart.
If you're constantly going to the doctor to pester him about this weird skin rash that you are regularily getting on your penis, the stethoscope will be of no use.
(And about the polishing : we are supposed to rub it with disinfection before and after each single use. Of course, it's going to look pristine and polished.
Or would you prefer if we used it to help you exchange every possible virus and bacteria among all patients coming to the practice ?!)
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
This would replace the doctor, not the stethoscope.
He's the weak link.
Send your doctors to medical school on merit.
Graduate the best and only the best.
Ensure anyone who wants to work in your nation as a medical doctor is a qualified professional.
Everyone sits the same exams and has to pass the same exams to be approved.
Stethoscope skills are part of the needed years of approved study.
After years of hard work and study a doctor enters the profession.
Review the work done by doctors and ensure peer review is done.
The reason why that education is important is that not every condition is going to be the AI expected "pneumonia".
Skill is needed to detect many other conditions and what the best treatment is.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Listen, there is no such thing as artificial intelligence. There are only computers that do what they are programmed to do. They do not think for themselves. They might be programmed to emulate thought, but it is not real thought.
Can we please stop calling literally EVERYTHING with a computer in it Artificially Intelligent? It's an insult to intelligence everywhere.
I do not want my medical needs attended to by "unskilled workers."
But, we need to get ready for 'Medicare for All' under AOC's socialist utopia, so plan to get accustomed to substandard medical care by "unskilled workers."
The diagnosis can't save the millions of kids. How will diagnosing the children actually CURE them? I'm sure there are more issues at play for saving lives in sub-Saharan Africa than a lack of AI stethoscopes.
....it's not a bad idea to upgrade the concept of stethoscopes, but I think there's still a value in the basic tool that is (essentially) impervious to damage, climate, immersion, AND DOESN'T NEED A BATTERY. *Particularly* in that undeveloped remote-care situation they envisage in the OP.
-Styopa
with most deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The death toll is highest among children under the age of 5. The researchers, from Johns Hopkins University, designed a smart stethoscope for use by unskilled workers in noisy medical clinics.
Did anyone consider the possibility of simply examining children in quiet rooms before they decided to throw a few million dollars in research funds for a ten thousand dollar "pneumonia detector" to be deployed in some of the most impoverished locations in the world? I bet the local practitioners could think of better uses for thousands of dollars than a battery-operated tool to replace a $5 stethoscope... like vaccines, a refrigerator, etc...
Ken
I applaud the use of technology to improve a device to diagnose disease, especially those is vulnerable children. However, this use of the term "AI" in everything technologically advanced has to stop. The "AI" is nothing more than advanced algorithms designed by competent programmers. We are no closer to "AI" today than we were 50 years ago. Please stop referring to technology as AI ... it is not.
Really? Yeah because an AI stethoscope won't be expensive and will be easy to service in sub-Saharan Africa. Did you read the bit about "developing strategies for countries with limited resources" or was your head up your ass because you're a fucking engineer who's never been to sub-Saharan Africa. FYI given the many illnesses that plague people living in sub-Saharan Africa broad spectrum antibiotics would be the right treatment. But hey what do doctors know compared to IEEE engineers who have never treated anyone in sub-Saharan Africa. Fucking morons.
"Given the global burden of these respiratory ailments, the World Health Organization has developed strategies for countries with limited resources. The guidelines for pneumonia [PDF] diagnosis minimize dependence on any technological tools, and instead rely solely on observed symptoms of shortness of breath, cough, and rapid breathing. In hopes of saving lives, the WHO recommends antibiotic treatment for all children with these symptoms, with the result that half the children who get treated for pneumonia don’t really have it. This approach puts unnecessary costs on communities, and the unnecessary medication contributes to the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
We propose a technological solution that builds on the stethoscope, which has hardly changed since its invention in the early 1800s."
"Today’s electronic stethoscopes typically cost around US $500, making them far too expensive for many health workers in the developing world. The Johns Hopkins smart scope is designed to be significantly cheaper, with affordable electronic components and low-cost power and computing options, in hopes that it can be useful for low-resource communities."
No food, no water, no medicine, no doctors, no "quiet please, I'm diagnosing your dying child". So the solution is to replace the most reliable medical tool in the entire industry, a solid device that can be thrown around and has zero dependencies other than the patient, and someone to wield it, and we're going to replace it with a computer.
May I remind you:
No food, no water, no medicine, no doctors, no quiet, no electricity, no tech support.
My concern is targeting "noisy clinics... in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia...".
Certainly if they can do this, and even if it takes off but not in Lesser Developed Countries, that's still a win. However in poorer parts of the world, practicality is paramount. If this device is expensive then it won't gain acceptance in LDC. If it has a big box of attached electronics, that's just inconvenient and something to break. If it requires charging, well that's possible but it creates a barrier (current stethoscopes aren't electrical at all).
Stethoscopes have durable success because they are relatively simple, they do something important, they are cheap, and they can be cleaned. I gotta say, an AI powered stethoscope sounds like it is abandoning some of the success factors that made stethoscopes important.
Stethoscopes are one of those rare items that is a universal symbol of Doctors world-wide, they are over a century old, and they don't offer a whole lot of opportunities to improve upon.