Researchers at the University of Washington, in Seattle (United States), are developing a mobile application capable of detecting ear infections in children. They hope for marketing authorization at the end of the year.
Technology remains at the service of medicine. While it is estimated that 700 million people suffer from otitis every year in the world and that the prevalence is higher in children under 5 years old as well as in underdeveloped countries, a mobile application capable of detecting it in babies is currently under development at University of Washington, Seattle (USA).
ear canal echo
The researchers behind this invention explain in the journal Science Translational Medicine that parents will only have to make a small paper funnel, place it in the child’s ear canal, and then activate a continuous light sound available on the application for 1.2 seconds. Thanks to the Smartphone’s microphone, the application will record and listen to the acoustic signal returned by the ear. If the echo is high-pitched, there is no infection. Conversely, if it is serious, it is because fluids or pus are behind the auditory eardrum.
“It’s a bit like a glass of wine,” says team leader Shyam Gollakota. “If you ring the glass with your finger, the sound will be different depending on the level of liquid in the glass”. According to the researchers, the application would have detected 85% of ear infections during the tests. They therefore hope for marketing authorization by the end of the year and for the application to be put online in the first quarter of 2020.
Otitis of the middle ear in children
The ear has three distinct parts: the outer, middle and inner ear. In children, in the vast majority of cases, otitis is characterized by inflammation of the middle ear, the role of which is to produce fluid that flows into the Eustachian tube and the back of the throat. When it cannot drain out normally, it builds up in the middle ear, causing pain and hearing loss. An infection by a virus or bacteria can then occur, increasing the pain and causing fever. Rarer in children, otitis of the outer ear occurs when an infection affects the ear canal. This form of otitis is favored by the practice of swimming.
The origin of otitis
What are the causes ? In most cases, otitis occurs in children after an infection of the upper respiratory tract, nasopharyngitis. Bacteria or viruses can then pass through the Eustachian tube and spread to the middle ear as explained above. Nearly 90% of ear infections are caused by viruses. In the case of acute otitis media, bacteria are 100% responsible with 2 preponderant germs: Hemophilus influenzae (about 50% of babies 6 months to 36 months) and pneumococcus, or Streptococcus pneumoniae (in about 40% of cases).
Otitis is more common in children who frequent communities, as well as in the cold season. Finally, certain factors such as the presence of an allergy, passive smoking and hypertrophy of the adenoids (the adenoids) predispose to otitis.
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