Speech-processing startup Cordio Medical announced that its HearO app successfully predicted 82 percent of first congestive heart failure cases in patients that took part in a study, on average 18 days before the incident occurred.

The study collected 460,000 voice samples from 180 patients across 10 medical centers in Israel. The participants used the HearO app at home and sent a voice sample once a day in Hebrew, Arabic or Russian.

The company reported an 82% success rate, noting that a third of the 18% misdiagnosis rate was related to sounds from other respiratory diseases.

Congestive heart failure takes place when the heart doesn’t properly pump blood, which in turn can lead to fluid accumulation in the lungs. The HearO system detects that buildup in a person’s speech, alerting of future heart failure.

“The results of the study indicate our potential to become a standard in the field of early detection of heart failure,” says Dr. Ronit Haviv, Cordio Medical’s senior vice president of clinical, QA, and regulation.

“The solution is easy and convenient to use by any patient, even the oldest, and its level of accuracy has been proven as the same as a medical-grade solution.”

Cordio’s HearO system is expected to significantly help both heart failure patients and the health providers who manage their treatments, said Dr. Tuvia Ben Gal, director of the Heart Failure Unit in the cardiology department at Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.

“The deployment of the system will help reduce the significant workloads in clinics and allow doctors to focus on those patients who need treatment,” he added.

The company recently completed an $18 million fundraising round and has received approval from Israel’s Health Ministry and CE approval from the European Union. It expects to receive FDA approval at the end of 2023 and plans to enter the United States market in 2024.