Sonde Health API Platform Documentation

Sonde's Respiratory (V2) Mobile App Implementation Note

Owned by
Mohdsiddique Bagwan (Unlicensed)
Mar 29, 2022
3 min read

 

The following describes Sonde’s Respiratory mobile app which uses the APIs described in this documentation. Developers can gain insight into Sonde’s app flow, which is one of many possible user cases, for guidance prompts, messaging, score display, and resources link.

 

Elicitation Check

  • Elicitation Check (ELCK) is done on all voice samples collected as part of the Respiratory Symptom Risk score calculation. This ELCK does not apply to other health check measures such as Mental Fitness.

    • All voice samples (“ahhh”) are automatically checked for the following attributes:

      1. Energy level

      2. Voice is present

      3. Correct elicitation (single, continuous “ahh” held for 6 seconds)

Voice samples that fail these checks are rejected with an error code (see below). 

  • Why does Sonde include Elicitation Check?

    • In order to achieve our validated performance in correctly identifying respiratory symptom risk for users, proper voice sample elicitation and sufficient audio quality is critical. User instruction is an important aspect to get good voice samples, but this has limited potential. We have conducted extensive research on >100,000 voice samples regarding quality and how it impacts score reliability. We have been able to include ELCK on our Sonde app with a significant impact on improving the quality of the voice samples.

    •  

  • How to use Elicitation Check?

    • No additional API calls are required for ELCK. The Sonde API will provide the ELCK status code, error code, and error description (see below in the Developer Notes section).

    • Best practice implementation: If the user's first sample fails ELCK, provide a message and ask them to give another sample. We  recommend a neutral generic message, such as: 

      “Uh oh, looks like we can’t process your voice sample. Please try again in a quiet place and make sure to say “Ahh” clearly without pausing for 6 seconds.” 

      • If the user's second attempt also fails ELCK, follow the same procedure. 

      • We recommend asking for no more than 3 voice samples. If the third sample also fails ELCK, we suggest not providing the score and treating this like an unavailable test result. Depending on how you have integrated the voice sample within your app user flow, it may be appropriate to stop the test at this point or continue with whatever comes next in the user flow 

      Sonde can provide further consultation on how to handle situations where a user cannot provide a sample that meets the ELCK criteria.

 

  • How accurate is the Elicitation check? 

    • Elicitation Check accuracy is approximately 80%. That means the majority of voice samples will be correctly identified as either meeting or not meeting the required quality standards. Our team continues to work on further improving quality detection performance over time.

 

  • Guidance to end-users 

    • Partners are requested to educate their users on proper voice sample collection protocol using tutorials, user guides, or a video. Sonde has templates available and can provide suggestions to partners. 

      First, the voice sample must be collected in the right environment: 

      • The minimal background noise of any kind (e.g., TV/ radio, street noise, fans, animal sounds, etc.)

      • Must be done indoors to avoid street noise, wind sounds, etc. 

      • No other conversations or people taking 

      Second, the elicitation instructions should be followed: 

      • A single, continuous, held “ahh” vowel (as in the word “father”) for 6 seconds • Do not interrupt or repeat brief “ahh” elicitations to fill up the 6 seconds 

      • Speak moderately loud (as if talking to someone at the other side of the room) 

      Users should know that they may be requested to provide another voice sample if their sample fails the quality control assessment. 

 

  • Developer Notes

    • If the Elicitation check fails, the following Error code and Error description will be returned as a response to POST /platform/v1/inference/scores API call:

      • HTTP Status Code: 422

      • Error code: ELICITATION_CHECK_FAILED

      • Error description: We are not able to process the audio-file <audio-file> for <elicitation> audio quality. Please make sure to record <prompt> in a clear voice, in a quiet place, and without pause to pass the audio quality check.

For more information, please contact Sonde at support@sondehealth.com.

 

Sonde Health