Remote Analysis of Respiratory Sounds in Patients With COVID-19: Development of Fast Fourier Transform–Based Computer-Assisted Diagnostic Methods

Background Respiratory sounds have been recognized as a possible indicator of behavior and health. Computer analysis of these sounds can indicate characteristic sound changes caused by COVID-19 and can be used for diagnostics of this illness. Objective The aim of the study is to develop 2 fast, remote computer-assisted diagnostic methods for specific acoustic phenomena associated with COVID-19 based on analysis of respiratory sounds. Methods Fast Fourier transform (FFT) was applied for computer analysis of respiratory sound recordings produced by hospital doctors near the mouths of 14 patients with COVID-19 (aged 18-80 years) and 17 healthy volunteers (aged 5-48 years). Recordings for 30 patients and 26 healthy persons (aged 11-67 years, 34, 60%, women), who agreed to be tested at home, were made by the individuals themselves using a mobile telephone; the records were passed for analysis using WhatsApp. For hospitalized patients, the illness was diagnosed using a set of medical methods; for outpatients, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used. The sampling rate of the recordings was from 44 to 96 kHz. Unlike usual computer-assisted diagnostic methods for illnesses based on respiratory sound analysis, we proposed to test the high-frequency part of the FFT spectrum (2000-6000 Hz). Results Comparing the FFT spectra of the respiratory sounds of patients and volunteers, we developed 2 computer-assisted methods of COVID-19 diagnostics and determined numerical healthy-ill criteria. These criteria were independent of gender and age of the tested person. Conclusions The 2 proposed computer-assisted diagnostic methods, based on the analysis of the respiratory sound FFT spectra of patients and volunteers, allow one to automatically diagnose specific acoustic phenomena associated with COVID-19 with sufficiently high diagnostic values. These methods can be applied to develop noninvasive screening self-testing kits for COVID-19.