Google Is Developing AI That Can Hear If You're Sick – The Medical Futurist Newsletter

Technologies that will vanish from hospitals, surgical and telemedical robots. What a weekend! I had the privilege to give the opening keynote at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Congress 2024 in Vienna where I talked about how pulmonology could be the leading example for other specialties for dealing with digital health and AI. As a proof of that, Google is working on a tool that could diagnose diseases based on users coughing into their smartphone. Moreover, I had a [podcast with npj Digital Medicine]( about the future of publishing in digital health and the introduction of futures studies into life sciences. I hope you will find the newsletter useful! Best regards, Berci Bertalan Meskó, PhD The Medical Futurist [GOOGLE TRAINS AI ON 300M SOUNDS TO DETECT DISEASES VIA SMARTPHONE AUDIO]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Google teamed up with Salcit Technologies in India and trained its AI model on 300 million audio samples, including coughs, sniffles, and labored breathing, to develop vocal biomarkers to the AI could diagnose conditions based on coughing. "𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑏𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑛𝑜𝑛-𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑦𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑠, 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑇𝑢𝑏𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑜𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑜𝑓 𝑇𝐵 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑍𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑖𝑎." [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? It must be a big thing if Google is investing into that. Vocal biomarkers or bioacoustics are on the rise to become everyday elements of healthcare. [10 TECHNOLOGIES THAT WILL VANISH FROM HEALTHCARE BY 2050]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Crafting a hypothetical list of what might disappear by 2050 – an impossibly distant future – helps us gain insight today into what will almost certainly be phased out of everyday medical and healthcare work. By doing so, we can start preparing not only technologically but also culturally for the changes to come. [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? As we phase out outdated practices and technologies, it’s important to stay focused on the ultimate goal: improving patient outcomes and making healthcare more accessible, effective, and compassionate. [A SHORT GUIDE TO GENERATIVE AI IN HEALTHCARE]( --------------------------------------------------------------- This 2024 fast-track course aims to provide a hands-on introduction to the world of generative AI - in just a few hours. If you want to learn about generative AI in an easygoing way, without committing substantial amounts of time, this is for you. Give it a try, and let us know, what you think! [ENROLL HERE]( [THE TOP 20 DIGITAL HEALTH TRENDS FOR THE NEAR FUTURE: HERE IS THE 2024 EBOOK]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What is going to happen in the future of medicine? What will healthcare look like? And how will our roles change as healthcare goes increasingly digital? Which digital health trends are worthy of attention and which will prove to be just hype? These are some of the questions most often asked by healthcare professionals and industry experts. In the 2024 update of The Top 20 Digital Health Trends For The Near Future we highlighted 20 developments likely to happen in the upcoming 2-5 years. They are based on our analyses of trends and relevant technologies that we have been constantly monitoring. [READ MORE]( WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? In this article, we highlight three examples of such trends from the e-book we just updated. [AI COULD HELP IDENTIFY HIGH-RISK HEART PATIENTS]( --------------------------------------------------------------- This is how AI could make healthcare better. It looks at 2 million patients' health records and identifies those at high risk of certain conditions like heart disease or chronic kidney disease. These patients can be called in to receive treatment or modify their medications. This is the price we pay when sharing our precious health data with AI. I'm happy to do that. "𝐼𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑂𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝟪𝟤 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ-𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠, 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ-𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘 𝑐ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐 𝑘𝑖𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒. 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑓 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑘." [READ MORE]( WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Now they plan to carry out a larger clinical trial to prove the AI's worth and efficiency. [HEALTHCARE LABOR SHORTAGE PREDICTED BY 2028, WITH UNEVEN STATE IMPACTS: REPORT]( --------------------------------------------------------------- While the report makes recommendations about how to improve work conditions and fight against the endless loop of burnout, I only see AI as the potential saviour here. Only automation can take away those repetitive and/or data-based tasks from professionals that cause them burnout or just put so much burden on them that it's almost impossible to bear. [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? The WHO claimed that 10 healthcare workers would be missing by 2030.This new US-based report says that 100,000 healthcare workers will be missing only in the US by 2030. [SOME CLINICIANS ARE USING AI TO WRITE HEALTH RECORDS. WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?]( --------------------------------------------------------------- More and more physicians will start using voice-to-text applications with AI that can transform their discussion with the patient into a medical record entry in seconds. They just have to check if the document is ready to get accepted. Just some of the questions this article analyzes. - What will it mean for patients's privacy? - Do patients have to consent using an app with AI? - Should a physician ask their healthcare institution for permission to use one? - Will every medical record system accept such entries? [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? Maybe one day, digital scribes will mean better records and better interactions with our clinicians. But right now, we need good evidence that these tools can deliver in real-world clinics, without compromising quality, safety or ethics." MORE NEWS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE --------------------------------------------------------------- WITH ULTRASOUND – [Telemedical robot in Australia]( BIOHACKS – [‘Right to Repair for Your Body’: The Rise of DIY, Pirated Medicine]( BETTER CHIPS – [Robotic surgery to benefit from advanced processors and AI, says AMD]( PARALYMPICS – [Paris 2024: How the Paralympics is Advancing Athlete Tech]( [color-forwardtofriend-48.png](mailto:berci@medicalfuturist.com) [color-facebook-48.png]( [color-youtube-48.png]( [color-linkedin-48.png]( [color-twitter-48.png]( [color-instagram-48.png]( © The Medical Futurist 2024 This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Medical Futurist · Budapest · Budapest, Pest 1118 · Hungary