With support from the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins electrical and computer engineer Mounya Elhilali is developing a smart digital stethoscope aimed at revolutionizing pulmonary diagnostics—particularly pediatric diagnostics that would help prevent the more than two million childhood deaths each year caused by acute lower respiratory infections, the leading cause of childhood mortality worldwide.
The $2.3 million grant was awarded in 2022 by NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to Elhilali, a professor in the Whiting School of Engineering, and Johns Hopkins colleagues James West, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Eric McCollum, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
It's one of several potentially lifesaving projects Elhilali is pursuing to help people tune in more effectively in a noisy world—not just to conversations but also to the vital sounds used to diagnose disease and the cues that help people with hearing challenges navigate their surroundings.
"With NIH support, we are applying what we learn about how the brain filters sounds in noisy environments to create smarter tools that have a real impact," says Elhilali, who is also founder of the university's Laboratory for Computational Audio Perception (LCAP).
The smart digital stethoscope has the potential to assist in the diagnosis of respiratory diseases, where speed and accuracy can mean the difference between life and death for people around the globe.
