# SonoHeal: Smart Resonating Closed-loop Airway Clearance Device

> **NIH NIH R43** · COGNITA LABS, LLC · 2020 · $197,130

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disorder that affects 30,000 patients in the USA with an average life span of
37 years and the majority (85%) of the mortality is a result of lung disease. Airway Clearance Therapies (ACT)
are extensively used by patients for forceful mechanical clearance of mucus accumulated in airways using high
pressure and high frequency vibrations. However, the use of ACTs is intrusive, painful, uncomfortable, and
poses tremendous burden on patients who are required to perform ACTs daily for 1-2 hours. Without
effective ACT, the mucus-plugged airways trap bacteria causing infections, inflammations, respiratory
failures, and other complications. ACT is also used by patients with lung conditions where mucus clearance is
necessary (e.g. bronchiectasis, COPD, Asthma).
 ACT works on the principle of vibrating the lungs to increase mucus mobility. Ideally, the therapy
needs to be individualized and continuously adaptive for effective clearance. However, none of the current
ACT devices and techniques, including chest physiotherapy, high-frequency chest compression, oscillation,
and acoustic vibration therapies, are adaptive. The challenges with current ACT devices:
1. Brute-force approach: Patients have diverse airway geometry, mucus accretion levels, and obstruction
locations. Optimal therapy requires input frequencies to match the resonant frequency of specific airways to
target mucus clearance. Current ACT devices work on a set vibration pattern (Vest, oPEP, CPT) or a “feeling-
based” subjective tweaking of input frequencies and airway location (Frequencer, VibraLung), often rendering
them ineffective. 2. Subjective Assessment: None of the current devices measure lung function to provide a
quantitative assessment of the airway obstruction or therapy progress putting the burden on the patient to
determine treatment effectiveness. 3. Poor Quality of Life: As a result, patients perform uncomfortable ACT
for long durations to see a positive effect, leading to poor adherence to ACT. Further, home ACTs are
considered ineffective for a large segment of the patient population due to the lack of personalized treatment.
Cognita Labs’s proposed solution, SonoHeal, will be the first device to adapt the treatment in real-time based
on the patient’s lung status, such that the right airways are targeted for stimulation/vibration to reduce the
reliance on patient’s guesswork as well as provide effective therapy by localizing airway clearance. SonoHeal
will utilize Cognita’s patent-pending airway monitoring technology that measures airway obstruction in real-
time. Combined with quantified lung response with mucus localization information, SonoHeal will
algorithmically tune the right resonant frequency to target patient’s airways and promote effective mucus
removal. In this proposal, Cognita’s team will bring years of airway modeling, device technologies and
commercialization experience to conduct in-vitro experimentation on multiple...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10011518
- **Project number:** 1R43HL152912-01
- **Recipient organization:** COGNITA LABS, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Rajoshi Biswas
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $197,130
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2021-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10011518

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10011518, SonoHeal: Smart Resonating Closed-loop Airway Clearance Device (1R43HL152912-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10011518. Licensed CC0.

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