Foreword

Every year, millions of people die from respiratory diseases that could have been caught earlier. Not because the science doesn't exist, but because the tools to act on it don't reach them in time.

This is one of global health's most solvable problems. And yet it remains unsolved.

We believe that a smartphone, a device already in the hands of billions of people worldwide, can become one of the most powerful diagnostic tools in history. Not someday. Now. By listening to a cough, our AI can detect the acoustic signatures of respiratory disease in seconds, without a lab, without specialized equipment, and without the delays that cost lives.

This white paper presents the scientific foundation, technical architecture, and ethical framework behind that vision. It reflects the work of a global team of researchers, clinicians, engineers, and public health professionals united by a single conviction: that access to early disease detection is not a privilege, it is a right.

We are at an inflection point in global health. The tools to close the diagnostic gap exist. The question is whether we will deploy them with the urgency the moment demands.

Virufy is committed to that urgency.

Amil Khanzada, Chief Executive Officer, Virufy

Virufy White Paper

AI-Powered Acoustic Diagnostics for Global Respiratory Health

Virufy Research Team, 2026

Executive Summary

Respiratory diseases cause more than 4 million deaths each year worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic more specifically exposed critical weaknesses in global diagnostic systems. Virufy is a nonprofit organization working to combat these issues. Virufy is developing AI-powered acoustic diagnostics that analyze cough recordings captured via smartphone. The platform delivers rapid, non-invasive, hardware-independent respiratory prescreening within seconds, enabling scalable and equitable access to diagnostics globally. Virufy’s technology is protected under U.S. Patent No. 12,444,502 and has been developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (BARDA) and Stanford University.