Public Funding for Salina Health Limited

Our vision is to use machine learning to detect laryngeal cancer risk from smartphone voice recordings of patients. The purpose is to confidently divert benign vocal problems into more appropriate care pathways. Today, patients presenting at primary care with a "hoarse voice" are referred to a head and neck cancer clinic. Of the estimated 28,000 annual referrals in England, the vast majority (93%) do not have cancer. If we are able to provide an AI-driven smartphone test to streamline this process, there are multiple benefits to patients and the healthcare system. Head and neck cancer surgeons and ENT consultants from the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the driving force behind this project. They believe that listening to a patient's hoarse voice provides sufficient information to rule out cancer. In this project, we will use machine learning to listen to a voice, via a smartphone, and develop a prototype system to route patients to the right care. Eventually such a system could be deployed in primary care, at every GP, resulting in significant patient benefit and cost savings to the NHS.