Systems and methods for evaluating pulmonary disease using acoustic airway measurements from a smartphone

A system (30) for determining the presence and/or severity of a pulmonary disease in an individual, the system comprising:

• an electronic device (10) comprising:
• a housing (17);
• a speaker (14) positioned on or in the housing;
• a microphone (16) positioned on or in the housing;
• and
• a controller (12) in communication with the speaker and the microphone;
• and
• an interface (40) structured to convey ultrasound signals produced by the speaker to the airway of the individual and from the airway of the individual to the microphone,
• wherein the controller is structured and configured for:
• transmitting an ultrasound signal from the speaker to an airway of the individual via the interface;
• receiving from the microphone a reflected version of the ultrasound signal from the interface reflected from the airway of the individual;
• and
• determining from the reflected signal the presence and/or severity of the pulmonary disease in the individual, and
• wherein the controller is structured and configured for determining the presence and/or severity of the pulmonary disease from the reflected signal using a trained machine learning model.

An interface (40) for use with an electronic device (10) for determining the presence and/or severity of a pulmonary disease in an individual, the interface comprising:

• a mouthpiece (70) structured to be positioned in the mouth of the individual, the mouthpiece comprising:
• a body (72);
• a passage (74) defined within, and extending through the body from an inlet (74A) to an outlet (74B) opposite the inlet;
• and
• an incisor stopper (76) disposed adjacent the inlet, the incisor stopper being structured to fix the orientation of the body and thus the mouthpiece when the individual bites down on the body.