preMEDitated

Aside from being used for texting, calling, and playing innumerable games; the cell phone now has a chance for a more health oriented reason for existence. It may one day be used to diagnose diseases from the way a cough sounds.
Coughs are formed from a complex process starting as a sudden inhalation followed by silent expulsion of air, culminating in a burst of sound that can give clues to a patient’s condition. For example, a cough from a healthy individual is 2% louder than a sick one. Other factors such as the amount of mucus involved and the duration of the cough could aid in a quick diagnosis of disease conditions.
Unfortunately, variations of such sounds are too subtle for doctor’s and nurse’s ears to detect. Nevertheless, thanks funding from the Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation, a research firm called STAR Analytical Services is working on a project titled “Using Acoustic Analysis of Cough to Diagnosis Pneumonia.”
STAR would gather the characteristics of coughs from to produce a database that would be used to form cough profiles of diseases. In the future, it may then be possible for populations without immediate access to health professionals to receive prompt diagnosis and treatment from them via the use of cell phones.
A similar study that has also received funding from the Gates foundation attempts to bypass some of the work of health professionals. Thanks to Udantha Abeyratne of the University of Queensland in Australia, a software installed on cell phones or MP3 players may one day be used to diagnose disease based on coughs.
Anyone want to play iCough?

Source: STAR Analytical Services Press Release