Today, many healthcare practices rely on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address top-cited areas of improvement, including image quality and standardisation, workflow efficiency, and diagnostic support. As COVID-19 continues to ravage healthcare systems around the world, healthcare providers are employing AI as an important tool to combat the virus. The impact of AI in healthcare is far-reaching and is improving both the efficiency of institutions and the quality of patient care.
One company that is making a considerable impact in the AI sphere is Northern Ireland’s Liopa, reportedly the world's only start-up focused on AI-based lipreading technology. The company’s mission is to have its LipReading engine power a wide diversity of applications across multiple market segments including healthcare, cybersecurity and defence.
Liam McQuillan, CEO, Liopa, told Omnia Health Insights: “Liopa’s Healthcare product, SRAVI, provides a communications capability for patients who have lost the ability to speak. Patients who have been tracheostomised commonly have a severe speech impairment and are unable to communicate with their carer’s. The tracheostomy procedure is commonly used to wean ICU-based COVID-19 patients off ventilators and thus the numbers of COVID-19 patients with tracheostomies is increasing rapidly. These patients benefit from the use of SRAVI as it allows them to communicate with their clinicians and loved ones.”
The inability to communicate during an ICU stay is a major source of morbidity for patients, family and staff. Patients' non-verbal attempts to communicate are often difficult to understand for healthcare staff and family, which can delay the provision of care and support. “SRAVI provides effective communication for these patients and will reduce patient anxiety and stress levels, and improve patient engagement and cooperation with treatment,” he added.
Furthermore, Liopa has been interfacing mainly with Critical Care clinicians in the Acute NHS Trusts in the UK. NHS ICUs have been ‘digital’ for several years and EHR systems are now widely deployed – a wealth of patient information has been accrued. Machine Learning (ML) techniques are being applied to this data to create algorithms which, for example, can flag when a current patient could be discharged from ICU. This greatly improves efficiencies, especially at a time when ICU occupancy levels are extremely high.
Liam McQuillan
At the upcoming ‘Northern Ireland: Providing innovative solutions to the world’s healthcare challenges’ webinar, Liopa will highlight its SRAVI product and the benefit it can deliver to patients. “We are keen to develop relationships with healthcare organisations and with partners who can represent Liopa and our technology in the GCC region,” concluded McQuillan.
Join the webinar: Northern Ireland: Providing innovative solutions to the world’s healthcare challenges
Tuesday 9th February – 3PM GST
You can hear more from Liopa at this webinar hosted by Invest Northern Ireland, the economic development agency for Northern Ireland, UK. With expertise across a range of specialisms, including respiratory products, diagnostics, medical devices, e-health and medtech, companies from Northern Ireland are enabling treatments that transform lives across the globe.
Register for free >>
