News

Hexoskin Unveils Breakthrough Cough Detection AI Algorithm in Computers in Biology and Medicine Journal

Hexoskin’s Artificial Intelligence team has published this week a breakthrough study in Computers in Biology and Medicine, introducing a novel algorithm for automatic cough detection in real‑world settings. Unlike traditional methods, our approach preserves patients’ speech privacy and excels even in noisy environments.

This novel AI detection model was developed using physiological recordings from Hexoskin smart garments, a Digital Health Technology (DHT) wearable cardiac, respiratory, and activity sensor. The model delivers best‑in‑class performance with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 95.2 %, sensitivity of 98.5 %, and specificity of 91.9 %. This level of accuracy meets the stringent requirements for cough clinical trial endpoints.

Passive and objective cough measurement devices like Hexoskin smart garments can report outcomes for patients living with respiratory conditions such as asthma and COPD. Because Hexoskin Smart Clothing can be used in clinical trials at home, enabling remote patient monitoring, patients can be monitored for their respiratory condition during daily activities and sleep. AI-based cough detection can provide a detailed analysis of the frequency of cough events, combined with other clinical trial endpoints.

“Detecting coughs accurately without capturing speech content is essential for both patient privacy and clinical utility,” said Dr. Philippe Dixon, lead author of the study and assistant professor at McGill University. “Our model’s robustness to ambient noise makes it an ideal tool for home‑based monitoring and telemedicine applications, key aspects of remote respiratory monitoring.”

This announcement represents the latest advance in Hexoskin’s expanding clinical AI portfolio. In parallel with ongoing clinical trials, Hexoskin leverages the world’s largest physiological database—accumulated through years of wearable sensor deployments—to accelerate the development of AI‑driven tools for patient monitoring and diagnostics.

Here's an excerpt from the paper's abstract:

Coughing behavior is associated with conditions such as sleep apnea, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) and can severely affect quality of life in those affected. In this context, coughing quantification is often important, but routinely performed via questionnaires. This approach is dependent on patient compliance or recall, which may affect validity and be especially difficult for nocturnal coughs. Manual review of audio recordings is potentially more accurate, but raises adherence and privacy concerns due to the collection and review of sensitive audio-data by a human annotator. Today, machine learning approaches are increasingly used to quantify coughs; however, algorithms often rely on microphone recordings, resulting in the same privacy issues, especially if data are sent to a remote server for analysis.

Hexoskin's open platform is used by hundreds of researchers for data collection for new digital biomarkers and AI development. Hexoskin is also working with foundations, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology to speed the clinical development of respiratory diseases and other cardiac, neurological, and rare diseases, developing primary and secondary endpoints for clinical development. We also collaborate on digital biomarkers for patient monitoring and find new cures.

Contact our team today to collaborate on the future of clinical development and AI in healthcare.

Hexoskin at Biosensors for Medical Wearables 2023 in Boston: Non-adhesive, flexible wearable sensors for pulmonary medical applications

Hexoskin's co-founder and CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier has been invited this year again to talk about wearable vital signs monitoring and digital biomarker development at the Biosensors for Medical Wearables Conference in Boston, this October 23rd.

Vital signs sensors traditionally used for cardiac and respiratory monitoring involve adhesives or tape to keep sensors in place on the skin. Experience has shown there's a tradeoff between monitoring duration (1 to 14 days), and adhesive agressiveness, which can lead to skin rashes or wounds.

There's now a safer and more convenient way for patients to record long-term vital signs data needed for diagnosis or digital biomarker development: smart textiles. Hexoskin users have successfully demonstrated the advantages of using a form factor that patients like. Researchers have documented it in over 200 scientific papers.

Moreover, Hexoskin biometric shirts' respiratory sensors allow continuous pulmonary measurements previously hard or impossible to collect in real-world situations, outside laboratory environments. These sensors open a new era of research on diseases that have an impact on the pulmonary function.

In his talk, Fournier will describe medical applications of smart textile sensors for patients with respiratory diseases, as well as opportunities in research in cardiology, mental health and rare diseases. He will also share unique insights into Hexoskin's experience in space medicine research aboard the International Space Station.

Please reach out for more information: contact@hexoskin.com

Hexoskin at Biosensors for Medical Wearables in Boston: Overcoming Challenges in Long-Term Medical Monitoring

Hexoskin's co-founder and CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier has been invited to talk about long-term vital signs monitoring at the Biosensors for Medical Wearables Conference in Boston on October 25th.

Vital signs sensors traditionally used for cardiac and respiratory monitoring involve adhesives or tape to keep the sensors in place on the skin. Experience has shown there's a tradeoff between monitoring duration (1 to 14 days), and adhesive agressiveness, which can lead to skin rashes or wounds.

There's now a safer and more convenient way for patients to record long-term vital signs data needed for diagnosis or to guide care or rehabilitation: smart textiles. Hexoskin users have successfully demonstrated the advantages of using a form factor that patients like. Researchers have documented it in over 200 scientific papers.

In his talk, Fournier will describe medical applications of smart textile sensors for patients with cardiac and respiratory diseases, as well as opportunities in research in mental health and rare diseases. He will also share unique insights into Hexoskin's experience in space medicine research aboard the International Space Station.

Please reach out for more information: contact@hexoskin.com

Hexoskin Celebrates Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week

Today, we start celebrating Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week. At Hexoskin, we think that Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) is vital and we are happy to celebrate all the efforts of the professionals and also the people who are following a PR. Pulmonary Rehabilitation programs have demonstrated health benefits and can positively improve the quality of life of people living with lung diseases.

If you have moderate to very severe Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you're probably eligible for pulmonary rehab. Ask your physician if there's a program near you.

For healthcare professionals, did you know that PR referrals & access are still very limited? According to a recent study, only 3% of Medicare beneficiaries with COPD are currently enrolled (Garvey et al. 2019). You can do your part by educating your peers, colleagues, and administrators about the benefits of PR.

For more information, visit the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR) Website: https://www.aacvpr.org/Events-Education/Live-Workshops/Cardiac-Pulmonary-Rehabilitation-Weeks

#PRWeek20

This week is Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week! 🌬️🌬️🌬️

If you have moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), you're probably eligible for pulmonary rehab. Ask your physician if there's a program near you.#PRWeek20https://t.co/4sjgq4eV0M

— Hexoskin - Sensors & AI (@Hexoskin) March 9, 2020