In this episode of The Healthtech Podcast, we’re joined by Kang Hsu, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Canary Speech, to explore the emerging field of vocal biomarkers and what they could mean for earlier disease detection.

Speech is more than language. It is airflow, vocal cord vibration, neuromuscular control and cognitive processing in motion. Subtle acoustic features such as pitch variation, jitter, shimmer and timing patterns can reflect underlying physiological and neurological change.Can those signals help detect depression, anxiety, mild cognitive impairment or even early neurodegenerative disease?

Kang brings a rare perspective. As a practising physician and former Chief Medical Informatics Officer within a major US health system, he led large-scale EHR implementations and AI deployments across a 50+ hospital network. He understands both the science and the realities of adoption at system level.

This conversation covers:

• What vocal biomarkers are and how they are measured• How 40 seconds of natural speech can generate thousands of acoustic data points

• Clinical applications across behavioural health and neurology• Sensitivity, specificity and the limits of current evidence

• What makes clinicians trust and adopt new AI tools

• Why seamless workflow integration is critical for scale

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This week, James is joined by James Mishreki, founder of Skin + Me, who shares the story behind building one of the UK’s fastest-growing personalised healthcare brands. He discussed the challenges of scaling a regulated DTC business, and how Skin + Me is tackling the dermatology access gap with clinical-grade care delivered directly to consumers.Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmishreki/ Learn more about Skin + Me: https://www.skinandme.com/ Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.comSubscribe to Healthtech Pigeon 🐦: www.healthtechpigeon.comGet in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.comThis podcast was brought to you by SomX.

This week, James is joined by Lawrie Kidd, Consultant Anaesthetist at Gloucestershire Hospitals and Clinical Product Lead at DrDoctor, who shares a candid look at the pressures facing frontline clinicians and how healthtech can help.

Connect with Lawrie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrie-kidd/

Learn more about DrDoctor: https://www.drdoctor.co.uk/

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This podcast was brought to you by SomX.

This week, James is joined by Hjalmar Nilsonne, CEO and Co-Founder of Neko Health. With Hjalmar yielding the power to shape the future of healthcare, James asks all the big questions. Can Neko pull off their ambition? What will it take? What lessons have they learned along the way? What challenges lie in their way?

Learn more about Neko: https://www.nekohealth.com/gb/en

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This podcast was brought to you by SomX.

In this episode, we're joined by Tharni Vasavan, Horizon Scanning Senior Health Technology Lead at NICE, about how emerging health technologies are identified, evaluated, and prepared for the NHS. From her journey through women’s health research and startup life at Hertility to shaping national foresight on healthtech disruption, Tharni offers an inside glimpse of how innovation meets evidence.

If you're working with AI that you think will be applicable in healthcare within the next 10 years, you can partake in NICE's horizon scanning with this form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=FNtA1T7OGE2t-3WmXoj3178lLN5iep1Aj4hJbvJXiDRUREs0Q1dVRFJTTTZHSU1HUllSSjYwVllRQS4u

Connect with Tharni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tharnithavasavan/

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This podcast was brought to you by SomX.

This week James is joined by Jacob West, Managing Director for Healthcare and Life Sciences at Microsoft UK, who shares insights on how Microsoft is leveraging AI to enhance healthcare in the UK.

Connect with Jacob: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-west-a519404/

Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com

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Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com

This podcast was brought to you by SomX.

This week, James is joined on the podcast by Dr Madeleine Ballard, CEO of the Community Health Impact Coalition (CHIC). CHIC is a global movement making professional community health workers the norm worldwide by changing guidelines, funding, and policy.

Connect with Madeleine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madeleineballard/

Learn more about CHIC: https://joinchic.org/

Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com

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Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com

This podcast was brought to you by SomX.

James is joined by Rafaël Michali, co-founder and co-CEO of SAVA. SAVA is redefining the way people interact with their health by developing the most advanced biosensing technology science has to offer, capable of accessing bodily information in a painless, real-time and affordable way.

Connect with Rafaël: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafa%C3%ABl-michali-656136101/

Learn more: https://www.sava.health/

Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com

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Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com

This week, James is joined on the podcast by Sam Winward, co-founder and CEO of Pastel Health. Pastel Health is an end-to-end outpatient clinic that supports Chronic pain sufferers referred from the NHS. The service aims to transform the experience for both patients and clinicians.

Connect with Sam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelwinward/

Learn more about Pastel: https://pastel-health.com/

Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com

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Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com

This podcast was brought to you by SomX.

In the second episode of this two-part series, James is joined by Dr. Ross Harper, CEO and co-founder of Limbic. Limbic is developing clinical-grade AI tools for mental health care, designed to be deployed in clinical settings. Their goal is to enhance the capacity of trained professionals and help meet the overwhelming demand for mental health services.

Listen to Part 1: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7wTwZ1SjfFsjy4IKkcOIzE

Connect with Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/refharper/

Learn more: https://www.limbic.ai/

Apply to be a guest: www.thehealthtechpodcast.com

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Get in touch with James: www.jamessomauroo.com

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Limbic and AI in Healthcare
04:01 The Role of AI in Treatment
09:28 ChatGPT vs. Clinical AI: The Debate
16:49 Human + AI: A Better Care Model
19:43 Scaling Mental Health Services with AI
26:09 Adapting Healthcare Models for AI
36:57 Ensuring Clinical Rigor in AI Solutions