myCough enables you to monitor your cough in a contactless and automatic way while you sleep. It analyses the nocturnal soundscape and determines whether and how often you cough during the night. myCough also analyses whether a particular type of cough has occurred (e.g. wet or dry cough). The next day you receive detailed information to help you assess whether a medical consultation is necessary.
How you benefit:
• Better assessment and management of your cough.
• Detailed information about your cough (e.g., the type of cough).
• Decision support for medical consultations.
What is special about myCough:
• Nobody listens in on you while you sleep: The app uses a patented technology to analyse your cough directly on your smartphone – no audio data is shared, not even for analysis purposes.
• You can use the app anonymously: We don’t collect any identifiable information about you and you don’t need to set up an account to use the app.
• Medical device: myCough is based on a certified medical product. However, The app doesnt make diagnoses and doesnt issue any instructions on what action to take. The parameters it provides should help you to assess whether a medical consultation is necessary.
The app is available in German, English, and French. myCough is a developed by Resmonics AG, a spin-off of ETH Zurich.
Before using it for the first time, you just need to answer a few questions. To track your cough, activate the app and place your smartphone in the bedroom. By the way: The app also works in flight mode.
Good to know:
• Data protection: Your privacy is important to us. You have full control over the data collected.
• Developed by experts: The technology behind myCough was developed by specialists in Switzerland. All content is based on the latest research findings.
How does the cough tracking work?
Using the smartphones microphone, the app uses an artificial intelligence to detect whether sounds are coughs. To learn the acoustic signature of a cough, the system was trained with masses of data from clinical studies.
For whom is myCough designed?
The app is designed for anyone who wants to learn more about their cough while they sleep. myCough is particularly relevant for people with acute or chronic respiratory diseases who want an objective assessment of how their cough develops over time.
What data is collected and processed?
In order to further develop the app, we collect the following data: usage data (e.g. frequency of app use), questionnaire data and data on your cough timeline. It is impossible to identify individual persons with this data. This means that you remain anonymous while using the myCough app, unless you decide to provide your contact details in one of the evaluation questionnaires.
Are conversations also recorded in the night?
The app uses a patented technology to temporarily store short acoustic segments. Although these segments can theoretically contain snippets of conversations, they are only processed locally on your smartphone. After the analysis, they will immediately be deleted. No acoustic data is stored in the long term or shared with anybody, not even with us. Nobody listens in on you while you sleep.
Please note that even though myCough is based on a medical device, you should seek a doctor’s advice in addition to using this app and before making any medical decisions.