Wearable system for autonomous detection of asthma symptoms and inhaler use, and for asthma management
A system adapted to assisting patients manage asthma includes a wearable sensor for detection of asthma symptoms and inhaler use, having a microphone capable of generating an electrical signal indicative of asthma symptoms or inhaler use; a processor with firmware adapted to process the electrical signal to determine potential asthma symptoms and inhaler use; and store the electrical signal in the memory when the electrical signal potentially corresponds asthma symptoms or inhaler use. In particular embodiments, the system includes an electronic asthma diary including detected asthma symptoms and detected inhaler usage, both with timestamps, and a prescribed treatment protocol. Protocol firmware processes detected asthma symptoms an inhaler usage recorded in the asthma diary to determine if asthma is controlled, and if asthma is not determined controlled determines if a treatment change is authorized; if treatment change is authorized the treatment change is displayed in human-readable form.
1 . A method, comprising:
digitizing, by a wearable device having a housing containing a microphone, a memory, a battery, a digital radio, and a processor, an electrical signal from the microphone;
evaluating the digitized signal for relevance to detecting a respiratory symptom and a medication use while the microphone is worn on a chest, a throat, or a back of a user, the medication use being detected autonomously without the user indicating the medication use to the wearable device, the medication use being detected using electronic auscultation of internal respiratory sounds represented within the electrical signal and indicating occurrence of inhalation of medication and further by correlating the internal respiratory sounds with detected sounds from inhaler actuation;
storing a relevant portion of the digitized signal in the memory when the relevant portion is determined relevant to the respiratory symptom or the medication use; and
transmitting the relevant portion of the digitized signal using the digital radio;
wherein the housing is configured for wear on the chest, the throat, or the back of the user.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting, using at least one additional sensor, movement of the user; the evaluating further comprising determining an irrelevant portion of the digitized signal as not relevant to the respiratory symptom or the medication use when the irrelevant portion corresponds to the movement of the user.
3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising displaying the respiratory symptom and the medication use corresponding to the relevant portion.
4 . The method of claim 2 , the digital radio being a low power transceiver, the transmitting comprising transmitting the relevant portion of the digitized signal to an external device using the low power transceiver.
5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving the relevant portion of the digitized signal at the external device;
processing the relevant portion of the digitized signal at the external device using a model to identify one or more events corresponding to the respiratory symptom and the medication use; and
storing the one or more events within an event buffer of the external device.
6 . The method of claim 5 further comprising:
logging the one or more events in an asthma diary with event date and time for each event, the one or more events comprising one or more of wheezing episodes, coughing episodes, or inhaler use events;
processing the asthma diary to determine a frequency of the one or more of wheezing episodes, coughing episodes, or inhaler use events.
7 . The method of claim 6 further comprising evaluating the one or more events in the asthma diary with a protocol to determine whether a change of medication is advisable and permitted, and if advisable and permitted then providing instructions in human-readable form instructing of the change in medication.
8 . The method of claim 1 , the respiratory symptom including asthma symptoms.
9 . The method of claim 1 , the medication use comprising inhaler use.
10 . The method of claim 1 , the housing further containing an accelerometer, the method further comprising using data from the accelerometer to confirm relevancy of the relevant portion of the digitized signal.
11 . The method of claim 1 , the housing further containing an accelerometer; the method further comprising using data from the accelerometer to confirm detection of a cough in the relevant portion of the digitized signal.
12 . A method, comprising:
digitizing, by a wearable device having a housing containing a microphone, a memory, a battery, a digital radio, an accelerometer, and a processor, an electrical signal from the microphone corresponding to auscultation of internal respiratory sounds while the microphone is worn on a chest, a throat, or a back of a user;
evaluating the digitized signal for relevance to detecting a cough and a medication use, the medication use being detected using electronic auscultation of internal respiratory sounds represented within the electrical signal and indicating occurrence of inhalation of medication and further by correlating the internal respiratory sounds with detected sounds from inhaler actuation;
using data from the accelerometer to aid detection of the cough in a relevant portion of the digitized signal;
storing the relevant portion of the digitized signal in the memory when the relevant portion is determined relevant to the cough; and
transmitting the relevant portion of the digitized signal using the digital radio;
wherein the housing is configured for wear on the chest, the throat, or the back of the user.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising using the accelerometer to detect movement of the user; the evaluating further comprising determining an irrelevant portion of the digitized signal as not relevant to a respiratory symptom or the medication use when the irrelevant portion corresponds to the movement of the user.
14 . The method of claim 12 , the transmitting comprising transmitting the relevant portion of the digitized signal to an external device using the digital radio.
15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving the relevant portion of the digitized signal at the external device;
processing the relevant portion of the digitized signal at the external device using a model to identify one or more events corresponding to a respiratory symptom; and
storing the one or more events within an event buffer of the external device.
16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
logging the one or more events in an asthma diary with event date and time for each event, the one or more events comprising one or more of wheezing episodes, coughing episodes, or inhaler use events;
processing the asthma diary to determine a frequency of the one or more of wheezing episodes, coughing episodes, or inhaler use events.
17 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising using data from the accelerometer to eliminate motion artifacts caused by non-cough-related movement.
18 . The method of claim 12 , the using data from the accelerometer to aid detection of the cough in the relevant portion of the digitized signal comprising: detecting, using the data from the accelerometer, movement of the chest of the user; and qualifying sounds in the relevant portion of the digitized signal as a cough when correlated to the movement of the chest.