Medical personnel routinely use the acoustic stethoscope to listen to lung sounds because the sounds provide important clinical information. These sounds are complex signals that reflect the underlying pulmonary pathophysiology. Unfortunately, studies of auscultation of the chest consistently show significant observer variability casting doubt on its clinical reliability. We developed user friendly, practical computerized technologies to obtain the important information provided by the sounds. Our results have been validated, patented, presented at scientific meetings and published in prominent journals. Our method provides objective, reliable information not previously possible to obtain with the human ear. It can be used even in severely ill patients. We are confident that automated lung sound analysis will replace the acoustic stethoscope in many of its current applications and become the new standard. In Phase I, we plan to determine whether our preliminary observations are correct that the acoustic patterns found in patients with heart failure are significantly different than those found in pneumonia. As a treatment of these very common disorders are different, more accurate diagnosis can have significant clinical and monetary benefit. In Phase II we will optimize our methods and demonstrate the value of automated lung sound analysis in broader clinical trials.
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