Proof-of-concept system uses smart speakers to catch signs of cardiac arrest

In an effort to tackle in-home cardiac arrest, University of Washington researchers have devised a novel contactless system that uses smartphones or voice-based personal assistants to identify telltale breathing patterns that accompany an attack. The proof-of-concept strategy, described in an NPJ Digital Medicine paper published this morning, involved a supervised machine learning model called a support-vector machine that was trained for use in the bedroom, a controlled environment in which the majority of in-home cardiac arrests occur. "Sometimes reported as'gasping' breaths, agonal respirations may hold potential as an audible diagnostic biomarker, particularly in unwitnessed cardiac arrests that occur in a private residence, the location of [two-thirds] of all [out-of-hospital cardiac arrests]," the researchers wrote. "The widespread adoption of smartphones and smart speakers (projected to be in 75% of US households by 2020) presents a unique opportunity to identify this audible biomarker and connect unwitnessed cardiac arrest victims to emergency medical services (EMS) or others who can administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation." Cross-validation analysis of the trained classifier yielded an overall sensitivity and specificity of 97.24% and 99.51%.