What does my "FCV Score" mean?

FCV stands for Forced Cough Vocalization – in other words, an intentional cough. This intentional cough is the biomarker that Raisonance technology captures, digitizes, and analyzes using artificial intelligence processed in the Microsoft Azure cloud. 

MyAdvocate measures changes in a person’s FCV and provides a score to the user each time they use the product. This score represents how much change MyAdvocate has detected.

To do this, we first have users create a baseline. This is a collection of many coughs which represents a person’s individual FCV profile. This profile is a multi-dimensional imprint of a person’s respiratory system, and is as unique to each person as their fingerprint. 

Once the baseline is established, MyAdvocate users can cough whenever they’d like to check their FCV status. Each new cough is compared to that person’s baseline, and MyAdvocate generates a score for each new cough. This score is a measurement of how similar – or different – a person’s current cough is compared to their baseline. 

If you are using MyAdvocate to help you quit smoking or vaping, our product is keeping track of the changes in your respiratory system that take place once you quit. If you create your baseline while you’re still smoking or vaping, or soon after you’ve quit, then each time you use MyAdvocate you’ll be able to see how your score changes over time. 

At first, your FCV scores will be very low – or even 0. That means your body hasn’t yet changed very much since you set your baseline. As you continue to refrain from smoking or vaping, your body continues to change due to healing. MyAdvocate will detect these  changes each time you cough. The more your body heals and changes, the higher your FCV score will be. 

If you are using MyAdvocate to help you manage an ongoing respiratory illness, MyAdvocate is tracking changes that correspond to your condition getting better, or sometimes getting worse. 

Everyone’s FCV Scores vary a little bit throughout the day – that is completely normal. Using MyAdvocate will help you see the short and long term trends that reflect your overall respiratory status.  

The primary defense used by our bodies’ respiratory system is the secretion and clearance of mucus. Over time, humans evolved specialized methods to protect itself from airborne environmental hazards, pathogens, viruses, and the like. Irritation of the respiratory tract causes changes in blood flow, mucus secretion, and diameter of a person’s airway.

Toxins can interact with secretions directly and can change the nature of the mucus, while other nerves and sensory receptors in the body react to lung irritation or pulmonary (lung) inflammation. This inflammation changes many aspects of a person’s cough. Sometimes these changes are identified by skilled medial professionals simply by listening to a person’s cough. But often these changes are so subtle that sophisticated artificial intelligence is better suited to identifying and scoring the severity of those changes. Each of these responses to irritants changes the frequency and energy pattern of a person’s FCV. Repeated or prolonged exposures to irritating gases, vapors, pathogens, and fumes can lead to the development of irritant-induced changes in the FCV.