Mounya Elhilali and James West awarded grant to develop smart stethoscope

Mounya Elhilali, associate professor and Charles Renn Faculty Scholar, and James West, professor, have been awarded a $2.3 million grant from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The funding will support a project to develop a smart stethoscope for the monitoring and diagnosis of lung diseases, particularly for pediatric use. More than two million children die every year of acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs), the leading cause of childhood mortality worldwide.

Chest auscultations have been used since the invention of the stethoscope to diagnose lung infections. While stethoscopes have proven versatile and complement clinical observation and other diagnosis methods, such as chest palpitations and X-rays, they have not evolved significantly beyond their initial design. The proposed smart stethoscope could improve diagnosis capability using a low-cost technology, enhancing resource and case management of ALRIs, particularly in disadvantaged communities that lack alternative diagnostic tools.