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    A Smartphone App And A Paper Funnel Could Help Parents Diagnose Kids' Ear Infections

    While there are thousands of health-related apps around, one being developed at the University of Washington stands out because it uses a phone's microphone and speaker to make a a medical call.
    by Richard Harris May 15, 2019 4 minutes
    Dr. Randall Bly, an assistant professor of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine who practices at Seattle Children's Hospital, uses the experimental smartphone app and a paper funnel to check his daughter's ear.

    Researchers are developing a smartphone app that, with the help of a simple paper funnel, might help parents detect fluid buildup in a child's ear — one symptom of an ear infection.

    The app is still experimental and would require clearance by the Food and Drug Administration before it could hit the market. But early data, published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine, suggest that the smartphone can perform as well as an expensive test in a doctor's office.

    While there are many thousands of health-related apps, this one stands out because it uses the phone's microphone and speaker to make its diagnosis.

    "All you really need to, a graduate student at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle.

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