Bentonville teen creates app to detect tuberculosis using AI
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — An app that detects tuberculosis by coughing into the audio recording is being developed by a Bentonville High School student.
It was created by Chandra Suda who is part of the Ignite Program with the high school.
The app currently doesn’t have a name and it took about 8 months to get the first initial results and the performance.
Bentonville chocolate shop feeling pressure of rising cocoa prices
He says the initial results were successful and even surpassed the World Health Organization’s requirement for a tuberculosis (TB) triaging tool.
“But it’s on the primary data set. So further testing is what I’m working on right now,” Suda said.
Suda says this all started as a research project around the end of his junior year.
The app uses a cough recording.
“So they’re audio and the main points of that, it’s more accessible and also a lot more cheaper for people to use it to help with their treatment,” Suda said.
He says the audio recording is then processed into an image.
“I did that because when I initially just did the audio recording, it’s very difficult because there’s so many other, like, confounding factors.” Suda said. “So when it transforms to image, it not only gets the amplitude, but also the frequencies so we can hear very different frequencies and also the loudness at those frequencies over time. And that kind of gave it more comprehensive understanding of the audio recording.”
Suda always loved building things and eventually, he found his passion for AIand machine learning.
“I really liked how using artificial intelligence we can do stuff that even humans might not be able to do,” Suda said.
He wanted to create something meaningful.
As he dived deeper into research, he realized how big of an issue TB is.
“Even as simple as for children, there isn’t an official diagnosis on using sputum culture because they don’t produce sputum,” Suda said. “So the industry standard isn’t applicable to them. So doctors, you know, in most countries just based off other factors And those things like that is what’s making TB very difficult.”
Sputum is a mixture of saliva and mucus coughed up from the respiratory tract.
According to MyHealth.Alberta.ca, sputum culture is one of the best ways to diagnose TB.
TB is a bacterial disease that affects the lungs.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 80% of TB cases and deaths are in low and middle income countries.
“There is a cure, it’s just access to a cure. The main issue now is how do we know if people have TB so they can get to the treatment? And that’s where an app is very useful,” Suda said.
He wants the app to be accessible and free.
“I think the best way to get this deployable is partnerships with insurance companies or local governments in countries like Africa, Madagascar, Indonesia, where they have the issue of TB,” Suda said.
Suda is currently testing the app on other diseases like pneumonia to see how well it performs.
He says after that, towards the end of this year, he will work on writing a grant for funding for clinical testing.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KNWA FOX24.
