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Users can record their voice through a smartphone, tablet or a computer by logging onto webpage of Coswara, a sound-based Covid-19 diagnostic tool developed by Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) researchers. Once data is uploaded, the tool will display the probability score (whether Covid-19 positive or not)
Users can record their voice through a smartphone, tablet or a computer by logging onto webpage of Coswara, a sound-based Covid-19 diagnostic tool developed by Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) researchers. Once data is uploaded, the tool will display the probability score (whether Covid-19 positive or not)
Covid-19 positivity rate might be receding day by day, but the fear of contracting the virus and the urge to know that one is safe has not diminished. The only way to ensure this is through testing.
Some of the commonly used Covid-19 testing methods to detect the virus are-RT-PCR, Rapid Antigen Detection Test and Antibody Rapid Test.
However, these can be time consuming. What if the virus can be detected within a minute, and also free of cost?
This can be done through Coswara, a sound-based Covid-19 diagnostic tool developed by Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) researchers. Initiated by the institute as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic in April 2020, researchers have been working on developing a remote, fast, inexpensive and scalable tool for screening the virus.
Now two-and-a-half-years later, after collecting data from more than 3,000 participants across India, the Coswara tool went live a few months ago.
Users can record their voice through a smartphone, tablet or a computer by logging onto Coswara’s webpage (https://coswara.iisc.ac.in). Once data is uploaded, the tool will display the probability score (whether Covid-19 positive or not). The probability score ranges between 0 and 1.
How to do a Covid-19 test online
“If a participant wants to check their Covid-19 probability score, they can do so by logging on to our web page using a personal smartphone. The coswara web page requests basic demographic, symptom and Covid-19 related information. Further, the audio data from the subjects, in the form of coughing, breathing and speech, is recorded,” said Sriram Ganapathy, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering Learning and Extraction of Acoustic Patterns lab, IISc.
Sriram is heading the team of researchers who have developed this tool.
“Once the data is uploaded successfully (an exercise which takes about 5 minutes), the participant is directed to a disclaimer page. If the user agrees to our terms and conditions, the tool will display the probability score. Any score above the 0.5 mark indicates a higher chance of being Covid-19 positive. The entire score computation is completed within one minute of data upload, yielding a fast and reliable tool. Further, the tool is offered free of charge to the users,” Sriram said.
The Coswara team said that their internal evaluation indicates a prediction rate of more than 90%. The team is planning more clinical trials to get the tool approved.
The tool is not approved by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) or Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) yet. However, data was collected in an ethical manner and the project was approved by IISc. The hospitals shared data with the project team knowing what they would be used for
“If we have to say Covid-19 positive or negative (as a binary decision), it requires approvals by DCGI/ICMR. For this, they would require data from different parts of India, and with diverse age, co-morbidity, ethnicity subjects. We anticipate that the process could take three to six months for approval,” Sriram said.
Since the tool was launched a few months ago, more than 200 persons have visited the weblink to check their Covid-19 probability score.
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