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A new software may make it possible for cough patients to have the ailment’s initial diagnosis over a mobile phone instead of the patients going to the nearest medical clinic.

Diagnoses over the phone may become possible soon thanks to the medical software called "iCough" under development in Queensland.

Australian as well as U.S. researchers are developing software to diagnose respiratory diseases such as pneumonia and flu by evaluating the cough’s sound.

Meanwhile, Dr Udantha Abeyratne of Queensland is finding ways to install mini-microphones to record coughing in MP3 players and phones.

The technology, which intends to develop a way to conduct distant medical screening, could cut down visits to the doctor’s clinic. The device can also help in the diagnoses of respiratory cases in developing countries.

STAR Analytical Services in Massachusetts is also developing a similar kind of software.

The  cough’s last 100 to 150 milliseconds is said to produce  distinctive sounds that may aid medics spot a problem cough sound over the phone.

Along with 75 other researchers, Dr Abeyratne got a grant of $US100,000  from the  Bill Gates' foundation in the United States.

Researcher Dr Jaclyn Smith of the University of Manchester has also been studying coughs for a number of years.

Dr Smith said that while people’s coughs vary a lot, finding certain parameters that would lead to the diagnoses of diseases through coughs could be “fabulous” and “improve people's access to health care."