Future Prospects for Respiratory Sound Research

Abstract

Respiratory sounds remain one of the most valuable information for diagnosing and monitoring respiratory diseases in children and adults, especially since subjectivity of auscultation has been removed using computerized techniques. Nevertheless, their wide implementation in clinical practice needs further research in several areas. The future prospects for respiratory sound research are proposed to be organized in three main areas: basic and clinical research, equipment, and knowledge translation. Basic and clinical research is deemed necessary to establish the origin, characteristics, and clinical meaning of respiratory sounds in different respiratory diseases, across all ages and in different settings. There is also much room for technological advances by developing hand-held, user-friendly, and low-cost equipment with machine-learning algorithms that may provide automatic analysis of the main respiratory sound parameters. This information, if integrated in electronic health records, could contribute for robust clinical decision support systems, which could then be integrated in wearables to obtain data at bedside or remotely and empower not only health professionals but also patients, caregivers, and citizens for self-management of health and well-being. Finally, several systematic reviews and consensus involving different stakeholders on terminology, acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of respiratory sounds are needed to start a knowledge translation unit. This chapter will provide a comprehensive overview of the different areas of respiratory sounds where future research would be valuable to contribute to far-reaching positive changes in managing respiratory diseases.