Diagnosis of Physiological Anomalies From Natural Speech

Sounds or vibrations propagate as a mechanical wave of pressure and displacement through the material mediums. Speech is also a sound a wave used to communicate intent, ideas, and desires. Sound waves have been widely used in various applications in various domains of mechanical, electrical, civil, industrial, and medical engineering. In medical field, sound in the form of ultrasound waves has been widely used for imaging the details of internal organs. Ultrasound systems operate in 2 MHz to 20 MHz range, although some systems are approaching 40 MHz as well. Ultrasound images are generated using the reflected sound waves from the boundaries of different organs falling in the path. Although ultrasound imaging is widely used for detecting medical anomalies, the technique has few drawbacks in the amount of cost and time involved for the tests. Further, the high frequency waves are diffracted very easily and it becomes difficult to detect the problems hidden within the deeper organs. Our hypothesis is that some of the medical anomalies may be predicted from the analysis of low frequency human sounds generated within the body itself after recording them at specific sites on the exterior