Canada’s AI solution in the fight against undetected heart disease
In a world filled with fitness trackers and smartwatches offering basic health insights, Stethophone® emerges as a groundbreaking innovation in Canadian health technology. Unlike consumer wearables, Stethophone is a Health Canada-licensed, medical-grade device that listens to your heart and delivers professional-level cardiac insights using the device you already have, your smartphone. Developed by Sparrow BioAcoustics, a company rooted in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, Stethophone uses a new kind of artificial intelligence to transform ordinary smartphones into sophisticated diagnostic tools. This breakthrough now enables many of the cardiac assessments traditionally performed in a medical clinic with a stethoscope, to also be carried out at home with remarkable accuracy.
A Deeper Dive into Heart Health
A standout feature of Stethophone is its simplicity—no new hardware attachments or accessories are required. Entirely software-driven, it is licenced as a Class II medical device, making it suitable for medical professionals as well as at-home use by regular people. This capability allows for cardiac assessments wherever and whenever symptoms like dizziness, fatigue, or palpitations occur, providing timely and accurate results.
The system captures subtle and often hard-to-detect heart tones, murmurs, gallops, and arrhythmias that may indicate underlying cardiac diseases. The AI further evaluates both the structural and rhythmic functions of the heart, detecting far more than smartwatches and pocket ECG devices. The analysis provided includes visual representations and playback of the heart’s activity. Easily stored on the phone and securely shareable with healthcare professionals, these snapshots of heart function are meant to aid in medical decision making, bridging the current gap between undetected issues and timely intervention.
Accurate, Safe, and Convenient
Stethophone is gaining traction among healthcare professionals, thanks to its low cost, convenience and high accuracy. It may also be a more hygienic alternative to traditional stethoscopes. A study published in the American Journal of Infection Control highlighted the challenges of disinfecting traditional stethoscopes, revealing that CDC cleaning guidelines were met in fewer than 4% of patient encounters. By contrast, smartphones—already handled up to 90 times during a typical medical shift—have smooth, easy-to-clean surfaces, offering a practical and hygienic solution in modern healthcare settings.
The medical accuracy of Stethophone is virtually unparalleled. The system enhances heart sounds while also identifying hard to hear murmurs with 90% accuracy. The system boasts one of the largest and fastest growing heart sound databases in the world and achieves a remarkable 96% success rate for first-time usability.
A Canadian Innovation Poised for Global Impact
Stethophone is part of a new wave of medical technology called Software as a Medical Device (SaMD). While built to the same rigorous standards as traditional medical devices, it is also designed to be affordable and accessible to everyone. The product is offered for a single one-time payment ensuring users maintain ownership and continuous access throughout life.
Currently available for iPhone and downloadable from the App Store, Stethophone is poised to make a global impact in the fight against undetected heart disease. Its combination of fast, AI-driven analysis, smartphone accessibility, and medical-grade accuracy positions it as a powerful tool in modern healthcare, bridging the gap between consumer health devices and professional medical equipment.
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