Home > About BNE > Press Room > 2010 Archive > March > Medical Acoustics product makes top 100 > Best 100 of 2009

The standards by which we judge the year's greatest innovations are simple. The objects don't necessarily need to be beautiful (although some, like the all-glass TKTS building in Times Square, certainly are). They don't have to be eco-friendly (although the packaging made of biodegradable fungus certainly is). They don't even have to be difficult to build (with all due respect to the telescope designed to find Earth-like planets). They just have to push past what we thought was possible just twelve months ago.

Making it to the list: The Lung Flute

The nearly 10 million Americans who suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease rely on medications and strenuous coughing to help break up the thick gobs of mucus clogging their lungs. The Lung Flute does the job with just 15 to 20 puffs of air. Blowing into the reed instrument (see how it's done here) sends a steady 16-hertz vibration into a user’s chest, dislodging mucus in the lungs so that it’s easier to cough up. Scheduled to receive FDA approval this fall, the flute also serves as an easy method for collecting deep-lung sputum for tuberculosis tests—especially useful in developing countries where TB is prevalent.

For more on how the Lung Flute came to be, see our Innovator Profile on inventor Sandy Hawkins.