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Avoid The Doctor: Cough Into Your Phone For a Diagnosis

by Caleb Johnson on November 11, 2009 at 09:20 AM

What does that cough say about you? Well, a lot. After all, each one is unique (wet or dry, productive or non-productive). Instead of waiting hours at a doctor's office to find out what this common symptom means, a group of researchers want to use the cell phone to get a quicker diagnosis.

According to Discovery News, a new mobile technology could allow people to forgo a visit to the doctor's office by simply coughing into a cell phone. The new technology, which is being developed by STAR Analytical Services, would allow doctors to listen, measure, and analyze a patient's cough. Just by doing that, a doctor might be able to diagnose any disease from the common cold to the flu. But these scientists want to do more than just scratch the surface of the cough. They're compiling sound data on thousands of different types of coughs and analyzing the distinct sounds which occur at the end of each.

You won't see an "iCough" application in the iTunes store just yet, but with this research, the idea isn't that far-fetched. Speaking for those without health insurance, we'd much rather pay a few bucks for an app and take a chance with the resulting diagnosis. It'd beat sitting in a waiting room for hours, seeing a doctor for about three minutes, and needing a loan to pay the bill. [From: Discovery News, via Telegraph]

Tags: app, breakingnews, cellphone, cough, diagnosis, disease, doctor, health, hgg, research, science, top

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