Current CF treatment uses bulky, uncomfortable vests to pound the chest until mucus is loosened and expelled. It has been clinically proven that 40Hz soundwaves are as effective as traditional vests (see also Supporting materials). The 40Hz soundwave matches the harmonic resonance of mucus, liquifying hard mucus so it can migrate to larger airways and be coughed out. We needed to apply this proven science to an experience that kids would not only endure but enjoy.

SICK BEATS by Woojer is the world’s first music-powered airway clearance vest for cystic fibrosis (CF), using the clinically proven modality of soundwave therapy to merge the music kids love with the daily treatment they need, all on the Spotify platform.

Working with Woojer, we redesigned their consumer haptic vest to meet the needs of CF treatment—adding additional transducers, optimizing lung placement, and boosting the 40Hz output. We used an AI-enabled sniffer to search 30 million songs in the Spotify library for therapeutic frequencies, identifying thousands of 40Hz songs for use with the SICK BEATS vest.

Spotify houses over 90 million songs. To identify songs appropriate for use, we limited our search to genres likely to contain low-bass frequencies such as rap, hip hop, EDM, house, and pop. Then we applied our AI-sniffer to listen to roughly 30 million songs and identify those containing our therapeutic frequency. The thousands of resulting songs were then used to create custom playlists for kids to use while doing their CF treatment with the SICK BEATS vest.

SICK BEATS syncs with your smartphone via Bluetooth, translating the frequencies of the music you’re listening to into powerful soundwaves that penetrate the body to loosen lung mucus so patients can cough it up.

We used an AI-enabled sniffer to search 30 million songs in the Spotify library for 40Hz therapeutic frequencies, identifying thousands of songs to build a therapeutic song library. The SICK BEATS profile on the Spotify app organizes songs into easy-to-access playlists, where kids can discover new music and build their own custom treatment playlists. On SickBeatsVest.com, we utilize the Spotify API to provide a playlist generator, powered by multiple inputs such as mood, musical taste, and treatment length.

2,000+ CF families within the Claire’s Place Foundation network have access to the vest—on a rolling basis, free of charge. To date, 20 kids with CF have joined our experience trial of the prototype vest.

The experience trial demonstrated a profound difference. Abby, a participant, said “I feel like I’m inside a speaker…no, it feels like I AM the speaker!” Another participant, Drake, said “SICK BEATS works so much better than my old vest. I can cough up more mucus, but it depends on what song I use. My favorite is Imagine Dragons’ ‘Believer’.”

The vest is currently in clinical trials to determine efficacy and is intended to have long-term impact—replacing traditional airway clearance therapy. After FDA approval, the vest will be available at a much lower cost ($400 vs $10,000), creating more accessibility for the CF community.