RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Validation of manual and automated wheezing detection from audio recordings
JF European Respiratory Journal
JO Eur Respir J
FD European Respiratory Society
SP PA3221
DO 10.1183/13993003.congress-2021.PA3221
VO 58
IS suppl 65
A1 Samaneh Sarraf
A1 Ronald S. Platt
A1 Kevin Chan
A1 Neil Skjodt
YR 2021
UL http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/58/suppl_65/PA3221.abstract
AB Introduction: Presently human experts must diagnose wheezing at the bedside using real-time analog tools (ear, stethoscope). Human experts could diagnose wheezing from digital audio files. Further, automated wheezing detection from unattended digital recordings would obviate bedside human diagnosis.Aim: To validate the detection of wheezing from unattended digital recordings.Methods: 189 digital audio recordings of 30 s duration were obtained using a dedicated digital microphone device (Wheezo, Respiri Limited, Melbourne) from 56 hospitalized patients (38 F; age 21 to 87 - mean 63.5 years; 26 COPD, 27 asthma, 1 vocal cord dysfunction, and 2 other) and 20 ambulatory normal adult controls. Wheezes were scored manually by two respirologists (KP, NS) and by a biomedical engineer (RSP). Their consensus was compared to an automated wheeze scoring algorithm. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of automated wheeze rate detection were calculated along with Cohen's κ coefficient (R 3.4.4). We further plan to apply the algorithm to the ERS reference database of lung sounds.Results: The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of automated wheeze rate detection were 90.5, 87.1, and 93.3%. Cohen's κ coefficient was 0.81. Breath-by-breath comparison of human and automated scoring showed near-perfect agreement for the presence, absence, and duration of wheezes.Conclusion: Wheezing can be diagnosed from digital audio recordings either manually by human experts or automatically by a computer algorithm. Diagnosing wheezing remotely increases assessment capacity while reducing viral transmission risk during epidemics.FootnotesCite this article as: European Respiratory Journal 2021; 58: Suppl. 65, PA3221.This abstract was presented at the 2021 ERS International Congress, in session “Prediction of exacerbations in patients with COPD”.This is an ERS International Congress abstract. No full-text version is available. Further material to accompany this abstract may be available at www.ers-education.org (ERS member access only).