AirSonea, the world’s first smartphone-enabled device for monitoring wheeze, was unveiled Tuesday in Melbourne, Australia, by the United States management team of iSonea Ltd. (ASX:ISN; OTCQX:ISOAY).
Expected in the United States in 2014, the discreet-in-size and easy-to-use AirSonea is a handheld device that turns a person’s smartphone into a portable wheeze monitor.
With regular self-monitoring of wheeze, asthma sufferers can become more aware of asthma risks, attentive to asthma treatment plans, maintain better control, and, if possible, help avoid asthma attacks. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease leading to airway constriction and is often accompanied by wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath and coughing.
To monitor wheeze, AirSonea is held against the windpipe near the base of the throat to record breathing sounds. These sounds are automatically transmitted to a cloud-based site and analyzed by iSonea’s proprietary Acoustic Respiratory Monitoring (ARM™) wheeze detection algorithms and technology.
AirSonea enables people with asthma to monitor wheeze anywhere, at any time. It also provides accurate and objective data to help doctors with patient reviews.
“Regular use of AirSonea during daily activities will help inform people with asthma whether their wheeze is increasing, decreasing or remaining stable,” said Michael Thomas, chief executive officer of iSonea Ltd. “This information will help people become more aware of their symptoms and vigilant about their risks as well as more attentive to their doctor’s treatment plans.”
According to the Asthma Insights Research study* conducted by Galaxy Research on behalf of iSonea, two-thirds of the 1,000 people surveyed indicated that they do not monitor asthma symptoms regularly despite physician advice. In addition, the emotional impact asthma has on a person or caregiver can cause anxiety, fatigue, frustration, sadness and fear.
“Asthma can take an emotional toll not only on the person with asthma but also family, caregivers and friends,” said Thomas. “The Asthma Insights Research report supports that claim and also demonstrates that most people, approximately two-thirds, are not monitoring their asthma regularly. We believe part of the problem is the hassle of asthma diaries and inefficiency of peak flow meters. AirSonea should simplify the monitoring process and provide informative data for better treatment plans.”
For more information about the groundbreaking AirSonea device, including hi-resolution images, video and more, please visit http://press.isoneamed.com/.
* Asthma Insights Research (AIR) study conducted in Australia.
