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CoughNCT05042063

Acoustic Cough Monitoring for the Management of Patients With Known Respiratory Disease

An observational study of Cough and COPD, run by Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Universidad de Navarra at 1 site in Spain.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

This study pretends to evaluate the potential use of Hyfe Cough Tracker (Hyfe) to screen for, diagnose, and support the clinical management of patients with respiratory diseases, while enriching a dataset of disease-specific annotated coughs, for further refinement of similar systems. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 5 to 100 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Cough, COPD, GERD
What is being tested?
Hyfe Cough Tracker and Hyfe Air
Type of treatment
Medical device
How many people
616 participants
Where
1 siteSpain
Study dates
15 Sep 2021to 15 Sep 2022
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 5 to 100 years
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Study population: For the main study group, the population are patients with respiratory disease treated in the Clínica Universidad de Navarra (Pamplona and Madrid campuses). Since the validation sub-study 1 only requires elicited sounds, a group of participants from a previous study will be directly invited to participate. For the validation sub-study 2, participants will include both, inpatients admitted to the Clínica Universidad de Navarra and presenting cough, and healthy individuals directly invited to participate by the study team.

Who may be able to join

  • For participants in the main study group
  • Outpatient or inpatients at the Clinical Universidad de Navarra with a complaint of cough.
  • The patient or his/her legal representative, have given consent to participate in the study.
  • For participants in the sub-study groups:
  • Being 18 years or older.
  • Providing consent for the sub-study

Who cannot join

  • Inability to accept the privacy policy and terms of use of Hyfe.
  • Lack of access to a Wi-Fi network at the site of residence (for the main study group).
  • Unwillingness to regularly use the cough-surveillance system throughout the monitoring period

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

Spain1 site
  • Clinica Universidad de Navarra

    Pamplona, Navarre, 31008

Other trials in Spain

About this study

This study pretends to evaluate the potential use of Hyfe Cough Tracker (Hyfe) to screen for, diagnose, and support the clinical management of patients with respiratory diseases, while enriching a dataset of disease-specific annotated coughs, for further refinement of similar systems.

Read the detailed description

This is an observational study that will take place in the two campuses of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, located in Pamplona and Madrid (Spain).

An Artificial-Intelligence system (AI) that detects and records explosive putative cough sounds and identifies human cough based on acoustic characteristics will be used to automatically monitor cough. Potential participants either attending the outpatient clinic or hospitalised with a complaint of cough will be invited by their treating physician, or a member of the research team, and included in the study by part of the research team. A researcher will instruct participants on how to install and use Hyfe Cough Tracker in their smartphones. Participants will be monitored for 30 days (outpatients) or until discharged from the hospital (inpatients). Participants will be asked to complete a daily, online, standardised 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS) to register changes in the subjective intensity of their cough, while using Hyfe to objectively monitor changes in its frequency.

In parallel, a dataset of annotated cough sounds will be constructed and retrospectively used to assess differences in acoustic patterns of cough, and to evaluate the performance of the system detecting them.

A first subgroup of participants will be recruited outside the clinical setting and asked to provide a series of elicited sounds, including coughs, which will then be used to determine the system's performance accurately discriminating coughs from non-cough sounds, and compared to trained human listeners.

A second subgroup of participants will be will be instructed to use Hyfe, and the related Hyfe Air wearable device continuously for a period between 6 and 24 hours, while they record themselves using a MP3 recorder connected to a lapel microphone. This group will be used to evaluate the performance of Hyfe and Hyfe Air in a real-life setting, with spontaneous coughs.

Being tested
Hyfe Cough Tracker, Hyfe Air
Medical subject headings
Cough, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive, Gastroesophageal Reflux, Asthma, Tuberculosis

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Hyfe Cough TrackerDevice

    Hyfe Cough Tracker is a digital acoustic surveillance system that uses an artificial intelligence system to discriminate cough from non-cough sounds. Hyfe is an AI-enabled mobile app that records short snippets (<0.5 seconds) of putative cough explosive sounds and then classifies them as cough or non-cough using a convolutional neural network (CNN) model. Briefly, the acoustic characteristics of recorded sounds are converted into an image file, which is then processed by an algorithm trained to identify graphical differences in images. This creates an adjustable prediction score, with values above it, resulting in a sound being classified as "cough", and those below being classified as "non-cough.

  • Hyfe AirDevice

    Hyfe Air is a wearable device with an incorporated wireless lapel microphone. The device´s recordings can be run through the same cough-detection algorithm used by Hyfe Cough Tracker, while its results are directly stored in a remote database and are not displayed to participants.

Study groups in NCT05042063
Study groupRoleWhat they receive
Participants with cough as a symptomThis group will be composed of patients at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra that complain of having cough as a remarkable symptom.
Receives: Device: Hyfe Cough Tracker
Validation subgroup 1This subgroup will be composed by both, patients belonging to the main study group, as well as voluntaries, who will be asked to provide a series of elicited cough and non-cough sounds for validation purposes.
Receives: Device: Hyfe Cough Tracker
Validation subgroup 2This subgroup will be composed by inpatients admitted to the Clínica Universidad de Navarra with a diagnosis of respiratory disease, or presenting cough as a symptom, as well as healthy individuals. This group will be monitored with Hyfe Cough Tracker and Hyfe Air for a variable period of 6-24 hours, while they are recorded with a MP3 recorder connected to a lapel microphone.
Receives: Device: Hyfe Cough Tracker; Device: Hyfe Air

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Correlation between subjective perception of cough and objective frequency

    The daily VAS score of participants will be compared to the cough frequency registered by the cough surveillance system. These data will be used to fit a linear regression model to compare self-reported VAS scores to daily cough frequency and calculate a correlation coefficient (r).

    Measured: 6 months.

Secondary outcomes (7)
  1. Sensitivity of the system discriminating coughs

    The sensitivity of Hyfe for the discrimination of coughs from other explosive sounds will be compared to that of trained human listeners. Sensitivity will be reported as the proportion of sounds correctly identified as coughs (true positives), from the total cough sounds produced (true positives + false negatives).

    Measured: 6 months.

  2. Specificity of the system discriminating coughs

    The specificity of Hyfe for the discrimination of coughs from other explosive sounds will be compared to that of trained human listeners. Specificity will be defined as the proportion of non-cough sounds correctly identified by the system (true negatives) from the total non-cough sounds produced (true negatives + false positives)

    Measured: 6 months.

  3. Positive predictive value (PPV) of the system discriminating coughs

    The PPV of Hyfe for the discrimination of coughs from other explosive sounds will be compared to that of trained human listeners. PPV will be defined as the proportion of cough sounds correctly identified by the system (true positives) from the total sounds labelled as coughs (true positives + false positives).

    Measured: 6 months.

  4. Negative predictive value (NPV) of the system discriminating coughs

    The NPV of Hyfe for the discrimination of coughs from other explosive sounds will be compared to that of trained human listeners. NPV will be defined as the proportion of non-cough sounds correctly identified by the system (true negatives) from the total of sounds labelled as non-coughs (true negatives+ false negatives).

    Measured: 6 months.

  5. Construction of an annotated cough dataset

    Cough registries of participants with an etiologic diagnosis will be annotated and stored to create a dataset that can be used for further algorithm training and refinement.

    Measured: 5 years.

  6. Sensitivity of the system differentiating coughs caused by different conditions

    The records obtained from participants for which an etiologic diagnosis is reached before the end of the study will be analysed to detect differential acoustic patterns, which will in turn be used to train the system's convolutional neural network to perform respiratory disease cough classification. The performance of this system will be retrospectively evaluated by determining its sensitivity for the diagnosis of different respiratory conditions, compared to clinical diagnoses made by a physician. Sensitivity will be defined as the proportion of participants in which Hyfe reaches a correct diagnoses based on cough acoustic patterns (true positives) from the total number of participants diagnosed with a certain condition (true positives + false negatives).

    Measured: 5 years.

  7. Specificity of the system differentiating coughs caused by different conditions

    The records obtained from participants for which an etiologic diagnosis is reached before the end of the study will be analysed to detect differential acoustic patterns, which will in turn be used to train the system's convolutional neural network to perform respiratory disease cough classification. The performance of this system will be retrospectively evaluated by determining its specificity for the diagnosis of different respiratory conditions, compared to clinical diagnoses made by a physician. Specificity will be defined as the proportion of participants in which Hyfe correctly identifies the absence of acoustic cough patterns associated to a certain disease (true negatives), from the total of participants without that specific condition (true negatives+ false positives).

    Measured: 5 years.

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted13 Sep 2021
  2. Study start15 Sep 2021
  3. Primary completion15 Sep 2022
  4. Study completion15 Sep 2022

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrolment
616 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT05042063
Sponsor's protocol ID
PI_2021/72
Status last verified
Oct 2025
First submitted
2 Sep 2021
Last updated
20 Nov 2025
Results posted
No
Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
Individual data sharing
Yes: Datasets with anonymized IPD, including cough registries and VAS scores will be shared at the end of the study.

Publications

  • Barton A, Gaydecki P, Holt K, Smith JA. Data reduction for cough studies using distribution of audio frequency content. Cough. 2012 Dec 12;8(1):12. doi: 10.1186/1745-9974-8-12.

    PubMed 23231789
  • Boulet LP, Coeytaux RR, McCrory DC, French CT, Chang AB, Birring SS, Smith J, Diekemper RL, Rubin B, Irwin RS; CHEST Expert Cough Panel. Tools for assessing outcomes in studies of chronic cough: CHEST guideline and expert panel report. Chest. 2015 Mar;147(3):804-814. doi: 10.1378/chest.14-2506.

    PubMed 25522203
  • Bujang MA, Adnan TH. Requirements for Minimum Sample Size for Sensitivity and Specificity Analysis. J Clin Diagn Res. 2016 Oct;10(10):YE01-YE06. doi: 10.7860/JCDR/2016/18129.8744. Epub 2016 Oct 1.

    PubMed 27891446
  • Decalmer SC, Webster D, Kelsall AA, McGuinness K, Woodcock AA, Smith JA. Chronic cough: how do cough reflex sensitivity and subjective assessments correlate with objective cough counts during ambulatory monitoring? Thorax. 2007 Apr;62(4):329-34. doi: 10.1136/thx.2006.067413. Epub 2006 Nov 13.

    PubMed 17101736
  • Gabaldon-Figueira JC, Brew J, Dore DH, Umashankar N, Chaccour J, Orrillo V, Tsang LY, Blavia I, Fernandez-Montero A, Bartolome J, Grandjean Lapierre S, Chaccour C. Digital acoustic surveillance for early detection of respiratory disease outbreaks in Spain: a protocol for an observational study. BMJ Open. 2021 Jul 2;11(7):e051278. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-051278.

    PubMed 34215614
  • Hall JI, Lozano M, Estrada-Petrocelli L, Birring S, Turner R. The present and future of cough counting tools. J Thorac Dis. 2020 Sep;12(9):5207-5223. doi: 10.21037/jtd-2020-icc-003.

    PubMed 33145097
  • Matos S, Birring SS, Pavord ID, Evans DH. An automated system for 24-h monitoring of cough frequency: the leicester cough monitor. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2007 Aug;54(8):1472-9. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2007.900811.

    PubMed 17694868
  • Park SC, Kang MJ, Han CH, Lee SM, Kim CJ, Lee JM, Kang YA. Prevalence, incidence, and mortality of nontuberculous mycobacterial infection in Korea: a nationwide population-based study. BMC Pulm Med. 2019 Aug 1;19(1):140. doi: 10.1186/s12890-019-0901-z.

    PubMed 31370826
  • Porter P, Abeyratne U, Swarnkar V, Tan J, Ng TW, Brisbane JM, Speldewinde D, Choveaux J, Sharan R, Kosasih K, Della P. A prospective multicentre study testing the diagnostic accuracy of an automated cough sound centred analytic system for the identification of common respiratory disorders in children. Respir Res. 2019 Jun 6;20(1):81. doi: 10.1186/s12931-019-1046-6.

    PubMed 31167662
  • Ragonnet R, Trauer JM, Geard N, Scott N, McBryde ES. Profiling Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission and the resulting disease burden in the five highest tuberculosis burden countries. BMC Med. 2019 Nov 22;17(1):208. doi: 10.1186/s12916-019-1452-0.

    PubMed 31752895
  • Sharan RV, Abeyratne UR, Swarnkar VR, Claxton S, Hukins C, Porter P. Predicting spirometry readings using cough sound features and regression. Physiol Meas. 2018 Sep 5;39(9):095001. doi: 10.1088/1361-6579/aad948.

    PubMed 30091716
  • Song WJ, Chang YS, Faruqi S, Kang MK, Kim JY, Kang MG, Kim S, Jo EJ, Lee SE, Kim MH, Plevkova J, Park HW, Cho SH, Morice AH. Defining Chronic Cough: A Systematic Review of the Epidemiological Literature. Allergy Asthma Immunol Res. 2016 Mar;8(2):146-55. doi: 10.4168/aair.2016.8.2.146. Epub 2015 Sep 18.

    PubMed 26739408
  • Turner RD. Cough in pulmonary tuberculosis: Existing knowledge and general insights. Pulm Pharmacol Ther. 2019 Apr;55:89-94. doi: 10.1016/j.pupt.2019.01.008. Epub 2019 Feb 1.

    PubMed 30716411
  • Sanchez-Olivieri I, Rudd M, Gabaldon-Figueira JC, Carmona-Torre F, Del Pozo JL, Moorsmith R, Jover L, Galvosas M, Small P, Grandjean Lapierre S, Chaccour C. Performance evaluation of human cough annotators: optimal metrics and sex differences. BMJ Open Respir Res. 2023 Nov;10(1):e001942. doi: 10.1136/bmjresp-2023-001942.

    PubMed 37945314

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Cough and COPD, run by Clinica Universidad de Navarra, Universidad de Navarra at 1 site in Spain.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 6 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 20 Nov 2025. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in Spain. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Correlation between subjective perception of cough and objective frequency (time frame: 6 months.). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT05042063, which also lists 14 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 20 Nov 2025.

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