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Alexa, Cortana And Siri Are About To Diagnose Your Health

This article is more than 7 years old.

Amazon Echo, Google Home, Siri and the myriad of other "assistants" that are out there are slowly but surely getting smarter and could, one day, be your doctor if researchers from New York University's Langone Medical Center have their way. According to new research, short voice clips can be used to diagnose a variety of diseases and conditions which means we just might be saving lives and catching diseases way sooner than we are currently. Prevention usually means big money saved and that interests a lot of different parties from billion dollar industries like pharma, fitness, government services and NGOs.  Add in wearables and smartphone listening devices and we have a huge

Using complex algorithms and machine learning the researchers hope to find vocal patterns that might signal illness and more complex disorders via a five-year study. Researchers at New York University's Langone Medical Center believe post-traumatic stress disorder and even heart disease could be detected in a few years rather than decades. The science is complex but with the new connected world of devices we increasingly live with it's not hard to see how this sort of leap forward could be adopted quickly.

The New York research is not the only research into voice health. SRI International Marmar (CA, US) is looking at PTSD in veterans and have already picked out 30 characteristics (from 40,000 total features they have identified) with early results showing at 77% accuracy rate of identifying PTSD. Heart disease is being examined by the Mayo clinic using an app that identified 13 different vocal features associated with heart disease from 150 trial patients.

SO THE FUTURE IS VOICE ASSISTANT DOCTORS?

Not so fast... (warning: book plug), let's use the TBD framework I use with clients and I put in the forthcoming "Disruptive Technologies: Understand, Evaluate And Respond".

Technology? Can people do what we want them to do? Check (well soon at least).

Behaviour? Will people do what we want them to do? Maybe not. Attending the IoT Tech Expo in London today - of the +200 stands no less than 55 of them were dedicated to heath-based or focused IoT companies. Devices seemed to be less of a focus as the technology evolves to make pretty much anything "smart".  I spoke with several delegates about the new potential for the devices and people were bullish on the potential but realistic at the same time.

"I'm not sure I would want Amazon or Google knowing my medical details...they already know too much about me." said one conference attendee (who requested not to be named). Despite a myriad of apps and services, health - like finance - remains one of the topics that polarises people when it comes to using new technology - the trust is simply not there. Edelman Trust Barometer research concurs (and offers some decent reasons why) but personally speaking - I think the issue is that people have simply not experienced enough of health connectivity...anything (!) working to really desire using the technology in such a way yet.

Data? Will enough people do what we want? With over 11 million Echo devices sold alone (per Morgan Stanley) the potential for this is certainly there. Voice is one of the growing method people search (1:5 searches are voice activated per Google), order and entertain themselves. The numbers are beginning to add up...it's just the trust and behavioural elements to this equation that have yet to make it balance.

Most people assume that voice-activated listening devices are always on - listening and recording every word - this is not the case because of the labour, resources and costs involved. However, as these preconceptions are carefully navigated and people see the benefits - either personally or through friends and family - the barriers to adoption will decrease.  Privacy, security and ownership will remain huge issues with something as personal as health and people's voices but perhaps there are opportunities because of the brands involved.  The element that is different here are the brands involved; Amazon, Google, Microsoft (Cortana) amongst others - most are not brands have such a professional relationship with - but perhaps they could be. Public trust of these companies - while currently in flux - could be built on easier than other businesses because they have not failed in their primary role in an individual's life - e.g. search or shopping.

It's up to Google, Amazon, Microsoft and others like them to lose our trust for these new behaviours by not abusing their power and delivering real value.

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