Cardiovascular disease is a global problem that kills more people each year than cancer, strokes, and other common diseases combined. Fortunately, cutting-edge research is yielding effective solutions for improving cardiovascular health. One prominent example is how machine learning and artificial intelligence are enabling faster diagnoses, higher accuracy, and earlier detection.
Eko, a medical technology company based in oakland, California, was founded in 2015 by graduates from the University of California, Berkeley, with the goal of leveraging artificial intelligence to provide cost-effective screenings for cardiovascular and lung disease. They have developed a line of “smart stethoscopes” as part of their mission to make medical care more accessible.
These devices enable doctors to visualise, record, share, and analyse heart sounds using a cloud-based algorithm at a fraction of the cost of traditional cardiograms and ultrasounds. Jason Bellet, co-founder and CSO of Eko, told interesting engineering via zoom:
“We created the first’smart stethoscope,’ which not only amplifies sound and reduces background noise, but also pairs with a software platform that allows clinicians to engage with heart and lung sounds in a digital format for the first time – save, share, and analyse it using our algorithms.”
This technology has the potential to save the lives of (literally) millions of people around the world, particularly those living in underserved communities and developing countries.
