The app Sleep Cycle's new free feature, Cough Radar, uses audio-based AI tracking of users' nighttime coughs to help determine patterns of illness before they start.

Winter has officially started as rates of COVID-19, seasonal influenza and RSV continue to rise across the country, according to the Center for Disease Control's Respiratory Illness Data Channel.

Aside from the obvious preventative measures, such as getting vaccinated or routinely washing your hands, there are other steps you can take this winter to avoid catching an unwanted illness.

One of those precautions is knowing which areas to avoid based on sickness.

Mikael Kågebäck, chief technology officer for the app Sleep Cycle, said its new free feature, Cough Radar, uses audio-based AI tracking of users' nighttime coughs to help determine patterns of illness before they start.

"We more or less have our ear to the globe, and we can listen into the world's coughing every night," Kågebäck said.

He said each user essentially sees a heat map showing the coughing rates per area.

"We're not collecting that per individual ... but what we can do is that we can look at certain areas, so we compute about 70 billion pixels every day," Kågebäck said. "So every night, a pixel will be a small area of the world."

If there are at least 125 people contributing from an area with a radius of around 4.5 miles, the Kågebäck said the app computes a coughing rate.

There are three levels of coughing rates shown on the map: Blue is normal, purple is elevated and red is high..

Kågebäck said the data is compared to the whole of North America over a complete year to determine its current level. The app can help users detect nighttime coughing before they even realize they're sick. Kågebäck recommended using it to plan ahead.

"If you are able to know that currently there's a wave approaching or coming in your area, then you can be more cautious and vigilant. Maybe you wear a mask, maybe work from home and things like that," Kågebäck said.

The data can also help health care workers to allocate resources in a better way based on community needs as well.

Cough Radar is usually a premium feature on Sleep Cycle users must pay for, but for January and February of the new year, users get it for free.

"All you need to do is download Sleep Cycle and then you can look at these coughing trends and maps all over the world for free, as it is right now," Kågebäck said.

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