Scientists design COVID-19 test to pre-screen by voice | Fusion - WeRIndia

India needs to improve the testing capacity for COVID-19. Hence, many scientific institutes are trying to explore ways to increase the capacity.

Pre-screening is one of the best ways to reduce the load on healthcare personnel.

In this context, scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru developed a pre-screening test method by voice and cough sound.

The team consists of 11 members including a doctor. They named the testing tool Coswara. This test takes the sound data including cough sounds, breathing sounds and speech sounds and analyzes the chances of being COVID-19 positive.

The tool has acoustic biomarkers to identify the patterns and thereby pre-screens individuals.

Dry cough and shortness of breath are the main symptoms of the disease and both affect speech. Based on these symptoms, CoSwara predicts the chances of being infected with COVID-19.

A doctor can normally analyze the sounds in your chest by hearing it through a stethoscope; in the same way, CoSwara calculates the probability of the disease.

CoSwara uses simple speech recording to evaluate conditions. One can just say ‘Aaah’ for a long time or count numbers for the specified time.

CoSwara is in a testing phase to understand the accuracy of the test. Around 700 participants are ready to lend their voice for it.

Yet, the team says that more than 1,000 participants are essential to test including normal individuals and COVID-19 patients.

One needs to answer basic questions by opening the web page such as a history of tuberculosis or asthma and geographical location.

Just the sounds of speech, cough and breath will be recorded and no personal data will be recorded.

The tool can be widely used after successful testing. It is simple and low cost. Moreover, it avoids contact with healthcare workers and thereby the risk.

Image Reference: Thebetterindia