Rattan wood used for bone grafts offers an innovative and sustainable solution. AI and nature together promise breakthroughs in the medicine of the future.
We are able to perceive changes in our voices caused by psychological states such as euphoria, sadness, irritability or anxiety, but we perceive little or nothing of changes to our voices caused by disease. We can recognise the nasal voice of someone with a cold, but not much more than that.
Every individual has a unique voice that distinguishes them from others.
Around half of our vocal parameters can be modified voluntarily, but the other half cannot: we can't voluntarily change the characteristic timbre created by our physical makeup. Our voices change depending on psychological states, physical and pathological states, and they can reveal our state of health.
Voicewise Srl is an innovative start-up, a spin-off from the Tor Vergata University of Rome, specialising in artificial intelligence solutions for signal processing. Since 2019, they have dedicated themselves to analysing vocal signals and sound signals in general, to apply them in the medical, security, social security and automotive fields.
Using artificial intelligence and signal processing, VoiceWise has created a system that allows them to acquire voice samples and process them in the cloud through machine learning algorithms, for detection of early stages of diseases, diagnosis and medical follow-ups for public and private healthcare.
A patented technology from engineer and professor Giovanni Saggio from the Tor Vergata University of Rome, which offers valuable support to doctors in complex clinical situations. A non-invasive, simple, inexpensive health screening system that works at a distance.
Giovanni Saggio, the founder of VoiceWise, answers our questions:
Could you give us some examples of applications of VoiceWise technology?
“Of course, thanks to its advanced voice analysis technology, VoiceWise has many potential applications. Some examples include early diagnosis of diseases or disorders, evaluation of alcohol or drug use, broad-spectrum low-cost health analysis in school or prison systems, sports medicine and anti-doping.
In the healthcare sector, VoiceWise allows patients to be monitored from a distance, and helps with the personalisation of treatment. It makes the healthcare system more efficient, reducing waiting times and improving the quality of treatment.
Thanks to predictive models it is possible to identify the development of diseases like Parkinson's very early on, allowing prompt intervention with a focus on personalised treatment. In other cases, we can identify danger of suffocation caused by dysphagia before it happens.
In the wellness sector, VoiceWise offers solutions to evaluate people's state of wellbeing, providing indications on aspects such as stress, sleep quality and emotional balance. This allows people to take care of their health in a more conscious, personalised way.
In sport, VoiceWise can monitor athletes' performance, detecting health problems or exhaustion. Finally, it helps to guarantee a healthy, safe sporting environment, monitoring the use of banned substances. In terms of road safety, it can be a reliable substitute for the classic breathalyser, becoming a "vocal alcohol test" that detects the driver's use of psychotropic substances through fast, non-invasive analysis.”
What are the main problems that VoiceWise has to face?
"The main problems are essentially related to acceptance of and trust in technology, integration into the healthcare system, and accessibility. In order to address and resolve these issues, we need a holistic approach that involves the different interested parties, including healthcare professionals, regulatory bodies, patients and sector associations. Transparency, collaboration and adaptability are fundamental in order to overcome problems and facilitate the circulation of VoiceWise. We are working to convince professionals and patients of the efficacy and reliability of the technology, informing and educating them on its potential and its benefits. We are working to comply with the healthcare sector's rules and regulations, and collaborate with regulatory bodies to guarantee the approval and validation of the technology.
We guarantee data privacy and security through strict security measures in accordance with privacy laws, under the control of the Ethical Committees of the various hospitals we operate in. We are working to make our technology accessible to all, regardless of income or available resources, collaborating with the existing healthcare system and adapting to their procedures and protocols."
What are the next steps for this technology?
“The next step is the development of VoiceWise EU, an application that will allow users to record voice samples and receive summary indicators of their state of health. Users will be able to view details and recommendations provided by the VoiceWise team and, if necessary, book a consultation with associated specialists via chatbot or phone.
We will also be developing a Caregiver version, dedicated to the elderly, which will offer various support functions such as monitoring heartbeats and falls, regular questions for medical purposes, allowing people to take pictures with their phone camera to keep track of the expiry dates of products or medications, and other support functions for family members or the patient, such as video calls.”
Rattan wood used for bone grafts offers an innovative and sustainable solution. AI and nature together promise breakthroughs in the medicine of the future.
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