11th June 2019

Microsoft Research Project Fizzyo

Microsoft Research Project Fizzyo

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. One of the main preventative treatments for CF is airway clearance exercises which children often find tedious and boring to perform. Microsoft Research’s Project Fizzyo is trying to solve this problem with the help of a Windows device connected to the cloud.

The Fizzyo device is a wireless sensor that connects to existing CF Physiotherapy equipment, turning breaths into controls for video games.

This project gamifies the airway clearance exercises with breath data of the children becoming the controls. Microsoft has developed custom games with the help of hackathons and it is now testing them in collaboration with University College London. This also allows clinicians to monitor their patients and gain greater insight into their health, using statistical analysis and machine learning techniques.

The project will use this technology for passive remote capture and transmission of longitudinal data during ACTs, physical activity and exercise daily in 160 children over 18 months. A data scientist will use this data, reconciled with individual demographic and longitudinal clinical records, to identify positive and negative clinical outcome predictors. Computer gaming will be introduced and removed (interrupted time series design) to evaluate the effect of gaming on ACT adherence and clinical outcomes during the study.

This exciting remote monitoring platform has the potential in the future to guide personalised physiotherapy prescription based on individual treatment responses, generate accurate, sustainable population-based physiotherapy registry data and provide a template for remote monitoring of other interventions in CF across the NHS.

“At Microsoft Research in Cambridge, we truly aspire to transform the world through deep research. The bold and inquisitive minds of our researchers and engineers have produced, and continue to produce, significant contributions to Microsoft’s most successful products and services, as well as to the broader research community. The interdisciplinary nature of our lab ensures that we push the boundaries of computing in an inclusive way, resulting in robust and trusted technologies that can be deployed at scale. We have only scratched the surface of what technology can do for us, and I am tremendously excited to be working in a team that is so committed to having a significant impact upon our society.”

– Professor Christopher M. Bishop, Laboratory Director, Microsoft Research Cambridge

To find out more please visit: https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-researchs-project-fizzyo-gamifies-airway-clearance-exercises/

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