Acoustic analysis of cough

This paper describes a method for quantitatively analysing cough sound. Coughs are obtained from normal adults before and after methacholine challenge which provides an intervention altering the airway characteristics. The analysis method characterises the cough sound by a set of temporal and spectral features. The results show that although there is some variability of these features within a subject, they are able to characterise significant differences in the cough sound after methacholine challenge. This suggests that acoustic analysis of the cough is able to provide information on the airway flow mechanics during cough that could be useful in diagnosis.