In case we needed another sign that phone technology has reached new heights, well here it is: In a few years, men might be able to accurately assess their fertility rate with the help of their smartphones. A new study examining such technology found that the results are 98 percent accurate for men when they use a phone attachment and corresponding app that analyzes their semen and then determines their level of fertility, CNN reports.
The study examines the results from a testing kit that consists of a phone attachment resembling an old-school battery charger and a phone app that then analyzes the data. Men using the disposable kit place a sample of their semen on a chip that’s then inserted into the phone attachment, according to CNN. The case contains lenses and an LED that help magnify the sample so it can be photographed by the phone’s camera and then analyzed by the software.
Indeed, the goal is to make testing simple enough for men to do in the comfort of their homes. “This is going to be the first fully automated device to make infertility testing as simple as home pregnancy tests for women,” Dr. Hadi Shafiee, assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who led the study, told CNN.