University Develops Device That Can Detect COVID-19 from Cough

A team from Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), Surabaya, is developing a medical diagnosis device that can detect COVID-19 infection through cough sound.  

The device, named elBicare Cough Analyzer, will enable early detection without direct contact, head of the team Dhany Arifianto said in a statement on Wednesday, January 19, as reported by Antara.

The innovation is initially aimed to be installed and used at hospitals to provide protection for health workers who are more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection.

According to him, the device uses microphone with small sensors that can capture sounds around the device. The device will then analyze whether the sound is a cough or not, using the algorithm on the device’s processor.

“The device can capture sound from up to 10 meters away,” Arifianto explained.

Furthermore, the cough sound will then be classified into two categories: associated or not associated with COVID-19.

Later on, the device will detect the cause of non-COVID-19-associated cough sound, such as tuberculosis, bronchitis, or others.

“The classification is based on the adjustment of frequency, amplitude, and harmonic components of the lung sound,” the lecturer at ITS’s department of engineering physics explained.

Result of the analysis will be stored and transmitted to user’s device through Bluetooth network. The team is currently working to make the data also transmissible through wireless networks.

The team also claims that elBicare Cough Analyzer can last up to 20 hours of continuous use.

Data used to analyze the non-COVID-19-associated cough is obtained from an independent research conducted by one undergraduate and two graduate students from ITS, with three medical doctors from Airlangga University.

Meanwhile, the team collaborated with the University of Cambridge to get data to detect coughs associated with COVID-19.