Can a smartphone be used for ‘tele-auscultation’?
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Date
2023
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Abstract
Introduction: Telemedicine has become an important way to provide healthcare. However, it lacks a traditional physical examination. This study aims to validate the use of a smartphone as an auscultation device as compared to a digital stethoscope. Methods: Lung and heart sounds were obtained from 50 volunteers. Recordings were made with a smartphone and a commercial digital stethoscope simultaneously, capturing the same respiratory and heart cycles. Sounds were captured by the smartphone using an application of our own, then stored in the cloud and processed in the Julia Language. Clinical validation was performed by ten clinicians in an online survey by comparing the quality of 40 paired recordings against each other, using conventional headphones and without knowing the device used to capture the audios. The recordings included both normal and abnormal lung and heart sounds. Results: Overall, all subjects indicated that the quality of the samples recorded by a smartphone was of equal or superior quality to that of the stethoscope. In our sample of normal lung and heart sounds, the probability to obtain a favourable response for the smartphone was 66% (95%CI 58.9%–72.5%), while in our sample of abnormal sounds, that probability was 87% (95%CI 81.5%–91.3%). Discussion: Our findings suggest that a smartphone is capable of recording lung and heart sounds with enough quality to be interpreted by clinicians by using only its built-in microphone. This, and given their capability to access the internet, would allow for the use of smartphones as tele-auscultation devices.
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Keywords
Telemedicine, Auscultation, Smartphone, M-health, Physical exam