BACKGROUND
Respiratory sounds have been recognized as a possible indicator of behavior and health. Computer analysis of these sounds can indicate of characteristic sound changes caused by COVID-19 and can be used for diagnosis of this illness
OBJECTIVE
The communication aim is development of fast remote computer-assistance diagnosis methods for COVID-19, based on analysis of respiratory sounds
METHODS
Fast Fourier transform (FFT) was applied for computer analysis of respiratory sounds recorded near the mouth of 14 COVID-19 patients (age 18-80) and 17 healthy volunteers (age from 5 to 48). Sampling rate was from 44 to 96 kHz. Unlike usual computer-assistance methods of diagnostics of illness, based on respiratory sound analysis, we propose to test the high frequency part of the FFT spectrum (2000-6000 Hz).
RESULTS
Comparing FFT spectrums of the respiratory sounds of the patients and volunteers we developed computer-assistance methods of COVID 19 diagnostics and determined numerical healthy-ill criterions. These criterions are independent of gender and age of the tested person.
CONCLUSIONS
The proposed computer methods, based on analysis of the FFT spectrums of respiratory sounds of the patients and volunteers, allows one to automatically diagnose COVID-19 with sufficiently high diagnostic values. These methods can be applied to develop noninvasive self-testing kits for COVID-19.