AI will have a major impact in all industries and all aspects of our lives. However, one of the most profound may turn out to be in healthcare. Delivery of safe, high quality, affordable healthcare is a large challenge, but AI can provide assistance in many areas. For example, consider the ubiquitous stethoscope.

Connor Landsgraf, CEO of San Francisco startup Eko Devices, believes it is time to upgrade the stethoscope, which he pointed out has not changed since the 1880s.  He claims many physicians do not get adequate training on how to interpret the sounds they hear with a classic stethoscope. He says the result is “rampant misdiagnosis”. Eko has developed CORE, an FDA cleared complete electronic stethoscope with analog and digital capabilities which can amplify heart and lung sounds and reduce ambient noise.  CORE includes a computerized insert for stethoscopes which provides data from the stethoscope to a smartphone app. The app can record, visualize, and save all data with robust data management. The app offers live streaming and HIPAA-compliant sharing to make it easy to share your condition with your health team. In addition, you can sync with your EHR to help provide a more comprehensive picture of your overall well-being.

Adding AI to the digital stethoscope data could have a profound impact. Every time a practitioner listens to a patient’s chest or stomach, the sound is digitized and sent to the cloud. Over time there will be millions of sets of data. The data can be enhanced by adding what the confirmed diagnosis of the patient was. The reason diagnoses are not always accurate is because the listener may not have enough experience to recognize the diagnosis. With the application of neural networks and machine learning, both subsets of AI, the patient data can be compared to the millions of datasets and produce an accurate diagnosis. Physicians who make data-driven decisions will achieve improved patient outcomes. Learn more from Health Attitude.