Find all editions of Cough Science News below and get access to the latest cough science developments, publications, and interviews with cough experts.
05.08.2025
Key Takeaway:: This post hoc analysis examined which COPD patients are most likely to benefit from passive nighttime cough monitoring for early exacerbation detection. While baseline cough statistics couldn’t be predicted from patient data, a logistic regression model using age and CAT score achieved 85 percent accuracy in identifying patients who exhibit increased cough during exacerbations, key for alert system performance.
This pilot study assessed behavioral cough suppression therapy (BCST) delivered via group telehealth sessions for patients with refractory chronic cough. After 4–6 sessions, participants saw an average 7.04-point improvement in the Leicester Cough Questionnaire, exceeding the threshold for clinical significance.: Passive cough monitoring systems are promising tools for identifying COPD exacerbations early. This study shows that patient stratification can significantly improve alert accuracy. It highlights the potential of targeted deployment for scalable and effective COPD management.
Why It Matters:
BCST is a proven treatment for chronic cough, but access remains limited. This study shows that delivering it in a group telehealth format not only maintains strong clinical outcomes but also offers a scalable, accessible option to address the needs of refractory chronic cough patients.
Key Takeaway: This study, part of the I3LUNG project, used machine learning and deep learning models to analyze forced cough recordings from NSCLC patients and healthy individuals. The deep learning model achieved 95% accuracy and 100% specificity in distinguishing patients, and cough features also varied by smoking status and presence of lung metastases.
This commentary proposes a pragmatic, stepwise framework for treating refractory chronic cough, beginning with non-pharmacologic interventions like speech therapy, followed by comorbidity-guided neuromodulator selection. : This research suggests that forced cough might be a non-invasive, AI-powered biomarker for early lung cancer detection and potentially for monitoring disease progression, however, much more work needs to be done for a viable solution to be validated and deployed.
Why It Matters
Despite growing recognition of neuromodulators in chronic cough care, real-world prescribing remains variable. As treatment options for chronic cough are lacking, and the evidence supporting behavioural speech therapy interventions is growing - starting cough management with a completely safe and effective behavioural intervention is a recommended approach.
Key takeaway:: Distraction with the cognitive task chosen in this study did not influence cough reflex sensitivity in either group, which is contrary to studies on healthy volunteers and anecdotal evidence reported by refractory chronic cough (RCC) patients.
Cough variability, now documented in refractory chronic cough, also appears to be present in patients with pulmonary fibrosis - highlighting the need for continuous cough monitoring to detect it and assess meaningful changes, especially in drug development trials.While prior studies and limited evidence suggested attention might influence cough, this study highlights the complexity of applying cognitive strategies to RCC. It suggests that effective attentional interventions may need to be more personalized and better mimic real-world scenarios to support behavioural cough suppression therapy (BCST).
Why it matters:
The study highlights the potential of wearable-based cough tracking to provide an objective, continuous signal for monitoring pulmonary fibrosis dynamics, offering a complementary layer of insight beyond traditional patient questionnaires.
How do you measure something as unpredictable as a cough, accurately, continuously, and without audio recordings?
In this short Q&A, Hyfe’s CEO Tamsin Chislett walks through the thinking behind the CoughMonitor Suite and what makes it different from other available tools.
Our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Peter Small, will be attending the World Association of Sarcoidosis and other Granulomatous Disorders (WASOG) 2025 meeting in Canada, August 24–27. We’ll be sharing our experience collaborating with leading experts and monitoring cough in pulmonary sarcoidosis. Reach out to peter@hyfe.com to connect before or during the event!
We’re also looking ahead to the ERS Congress 2025 in Amsterdam this September. Our academic and industry collaborators have several presentations lined up - more about it in the coming newsletters! Our CEO, Tamsin Chislett, and Digital Health Lead, Dr. Mindaugas Galvosas, will be there to present a few posters and recent insights from Hyfe. To connect at ERS, send a message to mindaugas@hyfe.com.
