Validation of a small cough detector. Issue 1 (23rd January 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kuhn, Manuel; Nalbant, Elif; Kohlbrenner, Dario; Alge, Mitja; Kuett, Laura; Arvaji, Alexandra; Sievi, Noriane A.; Russi, Erich W.; Clarenbach, Christian F.
• Is Part Of: ERJ open research. Volume 9:Issue 1(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-01-23
• Subjects: Respiratory organs -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Respiration -- Periodicals; Respiration; Respiratory organs -- Diseases; Respiratory organs -- Diseases -- Treatment; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Electronic journals; Fulltext; Internet Resources; Periodicals; Periodical; 616.2005
• DOI: 10.1183/23120541.00279-2022
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2312-0541

Abstract

Research question: The assessment of cough frequency in clinical practice relies predominantly on the patient's history. Currently, objective evaluation of cough is feasible with bulky equipment during a brief time ( i.e. hours up to 1 day). Thus, monitoring of cough has been rarely performed outside clinical studies. We developed a small wearable cough detector (SIVA-P3) that uses deep neural networks for the automatic counting of coughs. This study examined the performance of the SIVA-P3 in an outpatient setting. Methods: We recorded cough epochs with SIVA-P3 over eight consecutive days in patients suffering from chronic cough. During the first 24 h, the detector was validated against cough events counted by trained human listeners. The wearing comfort and the device usage were assessed using a questionnaire. Results: In total, 27 participants (mean±sd age 50±14 years) with either chronic unexplained cough (n=12), COPD (n=4), asthma (n=5) or interstitial lung disease (n=6) were studied. During the daytime, the sensitivity of SIVA-P3 cough detection was 88.5±2.49% and the specificity was 99.97±0.01%. During the night-time, the sensitivity was 84.15±5.04% and the specificity was 99.97±0.02%. The wearing comfort and usage of the device was rated as very high by most participants. Conclusion: SIVA-P3 enables automatic continuous cough monitoring in an outpatient setting for objective assessment of cough over days and weeks. It shows comparable sensitivity or higher sensitivity than other devices with fully automatic cough counting. Thanks to its wearing comfort and the high performance for cough detection, it has the potential for being used in routine clinical practice. This novel cough detector is comfortable to wear, and can reliably detect and quantify coughs over an extended period of time. Its performance is equal to or better than other automatic cough detectors on the market. https://bit.ly/3SGhbWJ