Detecting Cough Patterns - Acoustic CoughoGram (ACG)?
Is cough random or can we see patterns and regular structure over the course of a day? Long-term cough monitoring gives us the answer.
An example of an Acoustic CoughoGram (ACG)? (formerly known as a "cough ECG"):
- the red line shows the moving hour-by-hour average cough rate – this is the Acoustic CoughoGram.
- the blue bars show the hourly cough counts, day-by-day, for this particular chronic cougher over the course of a week
This Acoustic CoughoGram (ACG) uses a 14-day moving average to demonstrate how long-term monitoring allows us to see regular structure amid seemingly noisy day-to-day hourly cough counts.
The maximum of the red line on 3 March, for example, occurs in the 9-10 a.m. hour and has a value of 24.89 -- the average number of coughs between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. over the previous 14 days for this person was 24.89. The second largest value of the red line on 3 March occurs in the 18-19 hour and has a value of 21.9 -- the average number of coughs between 6 p.m and 7 p.m. over the previous 14 days for this person was 21.9. And so on... and note how these moving averages differ from the actual hourly counts from day to day.
The ACG shows underlying cough patterns that are hidden in the noisy variation of hourly cough counts.