ESPIRO: Natural Pulmonary Function Monitoring via Earphone-Acquired Speech

Abstract

As a crucial tool for assessing health, spirometry provides valuable insights into pulmonary functions. Recent advancements have enabled more convenient measurements by shifting spirometry solutions from cumbersome clinical devices to portable devices. However, the forced maneuvers and burdensome procedures, which necessitate repeated maximal forced breathing, often lead to dizziness and discomfort, rendering them unsuitable for vulnerable populations. In this paper, we present ESPIRO (Earphone-enabled Speech sPIROmetry) system to furnish user-friendly pulmonary function monitoring for diverse populations. Basically, ESPIRO records normal speech using microphone-embedded earphones and characterizes pulmonary function-related glottal flow during speech production. ESPIRO advances existing spirometry solutions in i) leveraging phonetics to associate pulmonary function with glottal flow in normal speech, thereby eliminating the need for forced breathing; ii) identifying effective speech features according to physiological basis, ensuring reliable spirometry measurements; and iii) effectively addressing ambient noise, making it suitable for various real-world settings. Extensive experiments with 38 subjects on 18 commodity earphones confirm that ESPIRO accurately estimates pulmonary function indices in practice.