It’s hard for any one person to quantify the severity of their asthma symptoms, which can lead to difficulties in the diagnosis and treatment of the condition.
Respiri envisions a world where asthma symptoms no longer dominate the lives of those who struggle with the condition. They believe they can achieve this by extending asthma care beyond the clinician’s office and into the everyday lives of asthma patients. They’ve made incredible progress in the development of new technologies that support this cause.
Using data to support the creation of personal asthma plans
Asthma – a chronic condition that affects the lungs – has fluctuating symptoms, often making it challenging for patients to assess its severity. Respiri aimed to change this by inventing a device called wheezo that analyses breath sounds to determine an asthma patient’s wheeze rate. But the task didn’t stop there. The challenge for DEPT® was to develop an immersive and compliant app to complement this hardware.
Using data to enable informed asthma care
Our core idea was to create an engaging and informative app to partner with the existing technology. This app would integrate with the wheezo device to track wheeze rates (a quantifiable percentage of time spent wheezing), symptoms, and triggers to improve asthma management. The app tracks this data so patients and doctors can make informed decisions about asthma management and update their Asthma Action Plan.
Breathing new life into asthma management
DEPT® utilised a proprietary acoustic algorithm to analyse sound files of a patient’s breathing for 30 seconds, calculating the wheeze rate . Users can track this data within the app, alongside other symptoms, triggers, and even environmental factors like weather conditions and pollen levels. The app also includes features like medication logs, reminders, and personalised asthma action plans.
The user design was focused on creating an experience that appeals to both parents and children, making data collection informative while still being enjoyable. We placed an emphasis on simple intuitive interactions, utilising visuals and animation to convey information. A friendly character acts as a guide to help users complete their ‘wheeze test’ to make the experience fun.
Gamifying asthma symptom and trigger monitoring
The wheezo app offers a unique way for asthma patients to manage their condition and become more informed. Wheezo’s gamified experience encourages daily engagement and makes it enjoyable for both children and adults to monitor their condition. By offering a data-driven solution to asthma management, wheezo empowers patients to improve their health outcomes.
“Absolutely fantastic app. Thoroughly impressed. Recommend it to all of my asthma suffering friends.”
Questions?
VP Growth APAC
