Acoustery, a UAE-based automated health monitoring venture, is eyeing Dubai as the global launch pad for its breakthrough AI-based testing and monitoring technology to combat asthma – identified as a “big problem” in MENA by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The venture’s algorithm-based app, which identifies respiratory diseases such as asthma through the sound of breathing or coughing, can be installed in smart phones or smart watches for regular monitoring.
The company is looking to first launch its app in Dubai in the end quarter of this year in collaboration with Dubai Health Authority, with scale up plans to the other emirates and countries in the region in a phased manner.
“We are fast approaching towards the end of the clinical trials for testing the system to identify patients with asthma based on their cough, along with Rashid Hospital in the UAE, and the launch [of the app] is expected before the end of 2023,” Dr Dimitry Mihaylov, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Acoustery, told Arabian Business.
“First, the project will be launched with Dubai Health Authority, then scaled to the [other] Emirates, and then to the all MENA region. Saudi Arabia is the second market that awaits after the Emirates,” Mihaylov revealed.
The company, however, is yet to take a decision on the price of the app.
“At the moment there is no decision on the price of the test, it will be taken together with the hospital as doctors will be involved in this process,” Mihaylov said.
Asthma is identified as one of the widespread diseases in the Middle East, with an estimated 1.3 million UAE residents – or around 14 percent of the population – suffering from it in the UAE, while Saudi Arabia is estimated to have even a higher number of asthma patients, at around 4 million people.
Mihaylov said the trails on the company’s asthma coaching app have found that regular use helped improve asthma control and increase FEV1 scores – a lung function assessment parameter in asthma patients – by roughly 7.9 percent in just a short period of four months.
The Acoustery app can also get data from phone sensors, and sharing the results with doctors will allow them to make necessary changes to the treatment plans to better manage asthma in patients.
App can send alerts on weather risk factors
Mihaylov said factors like humidity, wind speed and direction, pollen, grass, weeds, mold and pollution are triggering pushes for asthma.
“With continued use, the app learns about medication schedules, and sends forecasts to patients on environmental risk factors,” he said.
The app also enables patients to input other symptoms that could trigger asthma such as having new food, spending time with a cat or spending time on grass.
Mihaylov said Acoustery’s mobile application is designed to monitor asthmatics, and the diagnosis – and also treatment – part is handled solely by a doctor.
“Acoustery collects big data and assists the doctor.”
He said the company’s mathematical algorithmic technology is also capable of detecting several other diseases, including Covid-19, Alzheimer’s, whooping cough, and tuberculosis, with 95.6 percent accuracy.
“However, MENA is a high risk area for asthma and hence we are now focusing on this issue in the region,” Mihaylov said.
He said the mobile phone application-based tests currently being conducted involve collecting data from people who have asthma and are being observed as asthmatics in the hospital.
“A dataset has already been collected and is being stored on servers in the UAE with all the necessary permissions,” he said.
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