Farts are no longer a topic of embarrassment — the sounds of your farts can say more about your health than you think, which is why they’re taken very seriously by a team of AI researchers who tries detect fatal diseases like cancer through bathroom noises.
A mechanical engineering student at Georgia Tech named Ancalle and his team who study fluid dynamics are trying to discover the real meanings behind each distinct bathroom sound.
There’s nothing new about scientists trying to analyze the natural sounds of flatulence, urination, and even diarrhea.
This team is making good use of the latest technology revolution and feeding an AI algorithm to look for minor changes in the bathroom sounds of each individual, enabling them to track the health of this person over time.
This team has worked hard to create an intelligent device named S.H.A.R.T., which consists of sophisticated nozzles, pumps, and tubes to accurately mimic the natural noises of the human body.
The algorithm's accuracy has been tested by pumping S.H.A.R.T. with water, and it was able to identify the sound source 98% of the time.
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Over 500,000 children under the age of five die each year from diarrheal diseases (including cholera), many of whom could have been saved if diagnosed and treated earlier, which is why S.H.A.R.T. can save lives by detecting any early and subtle change in bathroom sounds.
“There's an outbreak and resurgence in Haiti as we speak,” said Maia Gatlin, a team member and an aerospace engineer at the GTRI. “And as we classify those events, we can start to collect that data,” she continued referring to the valuable data that can be collected using AI.
Ancalle’s initial goal was not to detect and analyze diarrhea sounds. He stated: “Our initial focus for that first year was really on flatulence and urination,”
His colleagues were even more focused on using this technology to detect early-stage cancer, relating the bathroom sounds to the internal geometry of a rectum.
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S.H.A.R.T. is a less invasive and more reliable way to collect bathroom information
Because many people are embarrassed to openly share all their bathroom noises information, it’s challenging for doctors to notice any alarming changes earlier. “Self-reporting is not very reliable,” Ancalle states.
He says that the team is trying to create something that lets people know about their health without being invasive. “Like ‘Hey, your urine is not flowing at the rate that it should. Your farts are not sounding the way they should. You should check it out.’” He continues.
It’s also worth mentioning that this smart device with 98% accuracy is planned to be available at an affordable price so anyone can use it.
“We're not trying to come up with million-dollar equipment,” Ancalle says. “We are trying to make this something that can be afforded by just everyone. The affordability aspect is very important for us.”
While S.H.A.R.T. hasn’t been used yet to detect actual human sounds, it’s expected to be a very effective and reliable tool that helps detect fatal diseases and treat them before they reach the late stage.
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