ChestPal Pro provides a smart stethoscope and AI-powered software that automatically detects crackles and wheezes in lung sounds, helping frontline healthcare providers identify acute respiratory events early at the point of care. The platform combines a pocket-sized wireless stethoscope with a mobile app that uses neural networks to analyze spectrograms and deliver instant, visual results.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
Founders
Product
Problem
Lower respiratory tract involvement, present in about 20% of COVID-19 patients, is linked to more severe outcomes, yet early detection is challenging. Traditional chest auscultation has variable sensitivity depending on the assessor's skill, while imaging methods like CT scans carry radiation risks and may be inaccessible in primary care settings. Oxygen desaturation is a specific but not sensitive marker, as lung changes often occur without hypoxia.
Solution
ChestPal Pro provides an automated lung sound analysis platform consisting of an electronic wireless stethoscope paired with a mobile application. The device uses digital signal processing to convert lung sound recordings into spectrograms, which are then classified into normal, wheeze, crackles, artifact, or heartbeat categories using neural network technology trained on datasets labeled by respiratory specialists. The system delivers instant audible and visual results after each recording, helping healthcare providers standardize the auscultation process and reduce observer bias. The app also enables tracking and sharing of patient recordings over time, allowing clinicians to visualize trends in lung sounds and identify early signs of deterioration.
Target Audience
Primary users are frontline healthcare providers including physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists working in emergency departments, primary care settings, and hospital wards who need reliable, objective lung sound assessment tools.
Features
- Automated crackles and wheeze detection with 87% classification accuracy across five sound types (95% CI: 82.8-90.5%)
- Spectrogram visualization in the app that helps clinicians see subtle lung sounds that are hard to hear
- Spot and Complete exam modes for capturing sounds from select lung areas or all lung fields
- Patient history tracking with filterable saved exams to identify changes in auscultative patterns over time
- Shareable recordings accessible to colleagues and patients without requiring login
- Validated performance in COVID-19 patients: 94% sensitivity and 97% specificity for detecting lower respiratory tract involvement
- HIPAA compliant data handling for patient privacy and security