An AI Stethoscope for Every Home? A Korean Company Makes Its Pitch in Japan
TOKYO—The small blue device took about 20 seconds to deliver an unexpected result.
Pressed against this reporter’s chest at a Tokyo technology exhibition, the round, flat stethoscope analyzed the sound of a heartbeat. Instead of the anticipated green, its screen flashed orange: caution.
Lee Man Chan, chief executive of South Korea’s SmartSound, offered an explanation. “You need to take the measurement somewhere quiet so other sounds don’t interfere,” he said. “Given how noisy the exhibition hall is, that’s a good result.”
The demonstration captured both the promise and the challenge of SmartSound’s ambition: to make a stethoscope as familiar in the home as a blood-pressure monitor.
The company made its first appearance at KDDI SUMMIT 2026 on Oct. 27 at the TAKANAWA GATEWAY Convention Center. Its SM-300 and Skeeper H1 devices, designed for home care and telemedicine, aim to turn a task traditionally dependent on a doctor’s trained ear into digital data that artificial intelligence can help interpret.
Japan could provide a route to consumers. SmartSound says it is discussing a telemedicine pilot with telecommunications company KDDI and pursuing a link between its stethoscopes and KDDI’s au Wellness health-management service. It is also exploring whether Lawson convenience stores could eventually become part of that network.
For now, those plans remain under discussion. The company’s broader vision depends on regulatory clearance, clinical evidence and a workable connection to medical care.
Listening for Trouble
SmartSound’s starting point is sound, rather than an image of the body.
The company says recordings of the heart and lungs can help identify signs associated with conditions such as heart-valve abnormalities, pneumonia and asthma. Repeated measurements at home could potentially flag changes that warrant medical attention before patients notice clear symptoms.
The demonstration used green, orange and red to present results in a format intended to be understandable to people without medical training. But a color isn’t a diagnosis. Background noise and other measurement conditions can affect the reading, and determining whether something is wrong requires assessment by a medical professional.
“We are at a turning point in the roughly 200-year history of the stethoscope,” Lee said. “Just like blood-pressure monitors in hospitals and homes, stethoscopes can move beyond the hospital and into every household.”
Founded in 2011, SmartSound has focused on digitizing and analyzing heart and lung sounds. It says it has collected recordings from thousands of people through government-funded projects and sponsored clinical studies, and continues to expand that database.
The company says it works with 14 institutions, including Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital and Asan Medical Center.
Its products extend beyond home use. SmartSound has developed stethoscopes for medical professionals, devices attached to hospitalized patients’ chests for monitoring, and stethoscopes for pets. Over time, it also hopes to analyze sounds from fetuses, the abdomen and blood vessels.
The business rests on a broader bet about where healthcare is heading. SmartSound sees 2026 as a turning point from remote patient monitoring toward “hospital at home,” in which hospital-level care is delivered in patients’ residences. It expects that shift to increase demand for its Skeeper line in home care and telemedicine.
The company says its stethoscope hardware has obtained medical-device certification in Japan, while certification for its AI software is being pursued separately. Authorization for the device doesn’t automatically extend to the software’s analysis. How the products can be used will depend on their respective regulatory authorizations and clinical validation.
A Route Through Japan’s Everyday Stores
KDDI offers SmartSound a potential connection to both digital services and physical locations.
The Japanese telecommunications company acquired its stake in Lawson in 2024 and jointly runs the convenience-store chain with Mitsubishi Corporation, with each holding 50%. At the exhibition, a healthcare model combining Lawson and the Ponta pharmacy service showed how everyday health management, online consultations and prescription pickup could be linked.
SmartSound says it is considering whether its stethoscopes could connect with telemedicine services using Lawson stores. That possibility would take the devices beyond the home and into places consumers already visit.
The idea fits the business direction outlined by KDDI President and Chief Executive Hiromichi Matsuda: make AI useful in ways people can experience in daily life. KDDI’s approach combines its communications network and AI capabilities with customer touchpoints such as au shops and Lawson stores.
Adding a smart stethoscope could allow users to record heart and lung sounds at home or nearby, then connect to a remote consultation when needed. For KDDI, it could offer another way to connect telecommunications, retail and healthcare. For SmartSound, it could open a channel to Japanese consumers.
Turning that possibility into a service will require more than a distribution network. Regulatory authorization, evidence of clinical effectiveness and arrangements for follow-up medical care would all need to be in place.
Lee sees Japan as a steppingstone to the U.S. and China. Over the longer term, SmartSound estimates that annual demand for AI stethoscopes could reach 50 million devices—a projection that reflects its ambition to make an instrument associated with doctors an everyday household tool.
By Yusup Lee, Tokyo Correspondent
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.