Departments of Computer Science and Electronics
Cervical cancer is one of the most treatable forms of cancer because it can be detected very early in its development. There are thus national screening programmes to detect its onset. Screening is based on the collection of cervical cells which are placed onto a microscope slide and examined by skilled cytologists who look for abnormal cells. No matter how carefully this work is done, mistakes can occur, both false-positives - which lead to unnecessary anxiety in patients recalled for further testing - and false-negatives - which at worst can result in fatalities.
The objective of this project is to see whether the presentation of an auditory representation of the cells on the slide will help the cytologists to make fewer mistakes.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
This project is supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), (reference EP/C512413/1). It commenced in 2005. Funding ceased in June 2009, but the work is continuing, unfunded.
Bentley, S. (2008). Application of neural networks in 'Sonification of cervical smear data to improve screening accuracy' EPSRC Project. University of York, Department of Electronics, Fourth-year student project report.
Butterfield, T. (2005). Improving the detection of cancer by using sonification to supplement visual displays. University of York, Department of Electronics, Fourth-year student project.
Edwards, A.D.N., Hunt, A., Hines, G., Jackson, V., Podvoiskis, A., Roseblade, R. & Stammers, J. (2010) Sonification strategies for examination of biological cells. in Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD 2010). Washington, DC. (Accepted).
Lee, P. (2006). Image (pre)-processing in detecting cervical neoplasia (cervical cancer). University of York, Department of Electronics, Fourth-year student project report.
Podvoiskis, A. (2004). Improving the efficiency of cervical cell sample analysis using sonification. University of York, Department of Electronics, Fourth-year student project report.
Roseblade, R. (2006). Sound and interface design for improving detection of cervical cancer. Master's Thesis, University of York, Department of Electronics.
Stammers, J. (2006). Developing synthesis techniques for the sonification of precancerous cells. University of York, Department of Electronics, Fourth-year student project report.
Slide preparations are traditionally referred to as 'smears' (or in the US often 'Papp smears') and people often talk about 'smear tests'. This arises from the form of preparation in which samples are literally smeared onto the microscope slide. Under modern practice in some centres (including Leeds) this is no longer true; cells are suspended in a liquid and placed on the slide (sometimes described as thin-film preparation or liquid-based cytology). This gives a much better quality of slide. In this case the term 'smear' is no longer appropriate and we avoid its use.
11th May 2010