Testing a Smartphone App to Detect Tuberculosis from Cough Sounds

CAGE-TB is testing a smartphone application that listens to your cough sound to see if it can help quickly identify whether you might have tuberculosis. Researchers will collect cough audio recordings from people with persistent coughs and use machine learning—a type of artificial intelligence—to teach the app to recognize patterns in cough sounds that suggest tuberculosis. This study will help determine whether the app is accurate enough to become a useful, low-cost screening tool in clinics.

Tuberculosis is a serious infection that spreads in high-burden communities, and early detection saves lives. Current screening methods can be slow, expensive, and hard to access in resource-limited settings. This trial exists to see if a simple, cheap smartphone app could help clinics quickly identify patients who might have tuberculosis so they can get tested and treated faster.