Delayed diagnoses are a significant hurdle in treating Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a common and progressive lung condition often linked to smoking. Many patients, like 75-year-old Maivor Ekström, don’t recognize the subtle changes in their breathing, leading to late detection and perhaps impacting treatment outcomes; globally, an estimated 90 million people live with COPD[WHO]. Now,researchers are exploring a novel approach to earlier identification: analyzing changes in the human voice,as a Swedish study demonstrates the potential of voice as a readily accessible digital biomarker for the disease[[1]].
Maivor Ekström, 75, didn’t realize her breathing was changing until others noticed she sounded different and often struggled to catch her breath. She had been a smoker since her teens but quit in 1997.
“You don’t notice the changes in your breathing yourself because the disease develops gradually, but others said, ‘you’ve quit smoking, you shouldn’t be hoarse,’” she told Svenska Dagbladet.
After a year, she sought medical attention and underwent spirometry testing, which revealed she had moderate Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). This inflammatory condition affects the smallest airways and air sacs in the lungs. COPD progresses slowly, and initial symptoms are often subtle, leading to delayed diagnoses for many patients. Early detection is crucial for managing COPD and improving quality of life.
Majority Remain Undiagnosed
Smoking is the primary risk factor, with approximately eight out of ten COPD patients being current or former smokers. According to researcher Alper Idrisoglu, a doctoral student in applied health technology at Blekinge Institute of Technology, an estimated over half a million people in Sweden have COPD.
“But studies indicate that 70 to 90 percent of individuals with COPD haven’t been diagnosed despite having the condition – roughly 350,000 people in Sweden,” he said.
In his dissertation, Idrisoglu investigated whether the human voice could serve as a digital biomarker for COPD. The study involved 48 participants who regularly recorded themselves saying the vowel “a” on their mobile phones.
“We chose the vowel ‘a’ because it produces a stable sound and has been used in previous studies in the field,” he explained.
