Roeland Decorte grew up in a nursing home in Belgium, where he noticed how small changes in the way people walked or talked could signal early mental decline. When he was 11, his father started having chest pains and felt a constant sense of doom. Two doctors quickly diagnosed anxiety after briefly listening to his heartbeat. However, a third doctor later discovered that the real problem was a tiny hole in his heart, which could have been fatal if left untreated. This experience stayed with Decorte.
Decorte went on to study at the University of Cambridge at age 17, becoming the youngest Belgian to attend. He specialized in ancient codebreaking, but his father’s close call with heart issues remained on his mind. In 2019, at age 27, Decorte started a company to use technology to help diagnose heart problems earlier.
He initially experimented with clothing sensors and exoskeletons to track health data but found them impractical due to interference from movement. The breakthrough came when he teamed up with Erika Bondareva, a PhD student who was diagnosing COVID-19 by analyzing cough sounds. They realized that audio sensors could be the key to detecting various health conditions, especially heart issues.
Today, Decorte’s company is developing AI-powered technology that uses a simple microphone to detect heart problems, stomach cancer, and even blood sugar levels. The idea is that the microphone in your smartphone could pick up your body’s signals, helping doctors make accurate diagnoses without complicated equipment. Decorte has already raised millions in funding and is running clinical trials that show his technology matches traditional ECG readings with 99.6% accuracy, but with the convenience of a microphone anyone can use at home.
Decorte’s journey from ancient codebreaking to health diagnostics shows how pattern recognition, whether in texts or heartbeats, can unlock new possibilities for healthcare.
Source: wired
