Tracking Lung Health With a Cell Phone

Technologyreview.com - by Nidhi Subbaraman - January 15th, 2013

Submitted by Luis Kun

Breathe in, breathe out. Dial and repeat.

Today, a deep sigh at your smartphone could reveal a well-developed emotional connection with your gadget. But one day those sighs could tip off your doctor to a latent or worsening lung condition.

A group at the University of Washington, in collaboration with Seattle Children’s Hospital, is developing a way to check how healthy your lungs are when you breathe out at your smartphone.

For patients with conditions like asthma, chronic bronchitis, or cystic fibrosis doctors sound out their pipes using a spirometer, a device that measures volumes of air breathed in and out. The exhaled volume indicates if the patient’s air passages are clogged and leading to difficulty breathing. 

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