(CNET) It looks like a Band-Aid, but it’s a flexible wireless sensor that sits where your throat and chest meet, picking up coughing and breathing problems associated with COVID-19. The device, announced Monday, seeks to monitor early signs of coronavirus infection and the progression of the illness.
Developed in hard-hit Chicago by Northwestern University and the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, the device adheres to the skin below your suprasternal notch — the little well at the base of your throat where airflow is closest to the skin and where tracheostomies are also performed. This patch, however, is non-invasive and is related to a sensor for monitoring speech and swallowing in recovering stroke patients. That design was tuned to track coughing and breathing problems that are central to COVID-19.