Diagnose Your Own Disease With New iPhone App

If the thought of going to the doctor makes you numb with anxiety, or if you just don't want to shell out the dough to hear you have a cold, a new iPhone app may be the DIY diagnostic solution you've been awaiting. The app, designed by Star Analytical Services, analyzes the sound of a user's cough and then compares it to a database of other coughs to determine which particular virus or bacteria might be to blame. It may sound simple, but as NextNature reports, doctors have been trained to distinguish between various types of coughs, which can, on a most basic level, be easily divided between "dry" and "wet." Within this dichotomy, there are several subtleties and nuances to each cough classification that can help physicians narrow down their diagnoses even further.

Researchers claim that for the app to be effective, it would need about 1,000 sample coughs in its database, covering all known respiratory diseases and spanning different gender, age and weight demographics. Advanced as the technology may be, it's still probably a good idea to rely on real, human professionals. Hearing your iPhone say that you have pneumonia still doesn't hold quite the same weight as hearing it from a pulmonologist who's spent his or her entire working life listening to coughs. Still, coughing into your iPhone sounds like an easy way to at least get an idea of how serious that persistent hack might be. Just be sure to give it a good cleaning before passing it around. [From: NextNature, via: PSFK]

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