WheezeWatch: Monitoring Respiratory Health

WheezeWatch is a wearable device designed to monitor and alert users about wheezing sounds, which can be a sign of asthma or other respiratory conditions.

WheezeWatch FAQ

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What does wheezing mean?

Wheezing is the shrill, coarse whistling or rattling sound your breath makes when your airway is partially blocked or narrowed. It’s usually most apparent when you breathe out (exhale). Sometimes, it can be a sign that you’re having breathing problems due to an underlying condition.

What is a wheezing sound?

What Is Wheezing? Wheezing is a high-pitched, coarse whistling sound when you breathe. Many people with respiratory allergies know that wheezing often comes with hay fever season. It may also happen because of respiratory infections like acute bronchitis.

Where does a wheeze come from?

A wheeze can come from many different places in the pulmonary system. An obstruction in the airways--from inflammation, mucus, or debris--can be anywhere from the larynx to the bronchi. 1 Depending on where the wheeze is and how it sounds, can help a medical team determine the cause--which is not always asthma. Who wheezes?

Is a wheeze a musical instrument?

It’s interesting that even the clinical definition describes a wheeze as “musical," because a wheeze will change pitch, octave, and even decibel depending on the person’s anatomy, exacerbation, or environment--much like an instrument. A wheeze can come from many different places in the pulmonary system.

What is a wheeze symptom?

A wheeze is a clinical symptom of a continuous, coarse, whistling sound produced in the respiratory airways during breathing.

How common is a wheezy episode in preschool?

As many as one in three preschool children will have a wheezy episode, usually starting with a cough and runny nose caused by a virus. Only very few of these children will have asthma. Viral induced wheeze: Children with viral induced wheeze only wheeze when they have a viral infection.

What is a viral induced wheeze?

Viral induced wheeze: Children with viral induced wheeze only wheeze when they have a viral infection. The treatment is usually a reliever inhaler (usually blue) and sometimes if children have repeated episodes, a medicine taken by mouth which reduces swelling of the airways.

What does a wheeze mean?

Wheezes heard at the end of both expiratory and inspiratory phases usually signify the periodic opening of deflated alveoli, as occurs in some diseases that lead to collapse of parts of the lungs . The location of the wheeze can also be an important clue to the diagnosis.