The magazine Inverse reports that David Ancalle, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, is leading a team of researchers that is studying the sounds of excretion in precise, scientifically measured detail.
The Synthetic Human Acoustic Reproduction Testing (S.H.A.R.T.) machine, which is pictured above, simulates sounds of human excretion. Ancalle hopes that his team will be able to create an artificial intelligence that will use the S.H.A.R.T. to detect health problems by the sounds that people make while excreting urine and feces. The program that they have so far can correctly identify a particular excretory event 98% of the time.
Ancalle is especially interested in diarrhea. He envisions a future in which the sound of this experience would be recorded by a smart toilet and provide an early alert about a potential disease outbreak. The device pictured above a prototype for a sound detector that could be installed in bathrooms.
This is our future.
-via Dave Barry | Photos: Georgia Tech Research Institute