A three campus Texas trial tests whether a phone microphone held to the abdomen can count fetal movement by machine
A feasibility trial registered on the federal clinical trials registry is recruiting pregnant patients at three Texas academic campuses. The lead sponsor is a professor of women's health at the University of Texas at Austin. Participants place a smartphone microphone on the abdominal wall and the recorded audio is assessed by a machine rather than by the patient's own sense of movement. The registered design is a prospective observational feasibility study of 60 patients drawn from both low risk and high risk pregnancies. What it measures is whether the application is usable rather than whether it prevents any loss. The registration reports an earlier pilot of 205 patients in which the machine assessment outperformed maternal perception against simultaneous ultrasound. The record gives a study start of August 6th, 2026 and was last updated on September 14th, 2026.
How to take part
The registration is public and carries the study design, the sponsor and every participating site. Enrollment is through the campuses themselves rather than through any public window. The study page carries the registry record in readable form, with the eligibility criteria and the contact for enquiries.
Where
3 counties. In Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands.
Timeline
- effective
Study start date the registration records as actual
- filed
Date the registration record was last updated
- Today
How this decision moved
One dated line per check, oldest first. A line that says nothing changed means somebody looked and it had not.
- 2026-09-18
Admitted on the trial's own registration. The study is recruiting at three Texas academic campuses, and what it is registered to measure is whether the application can be used rather than whether it changes any outcome.
- 2026-09-18
A code review found that the summary published the recruitment status, the sponsor's role and two dates with no claim behind any of them. The registry was re-fetched and four claims were added, quoting the status, the start date, the last update date and the responsible party's title. The reader-facing link pointed at the JSON API and now points at the human study page. This is a recruiting trial and that field is the route a prospective participant would follow.
- 2026-09-21
The registry entry still shows the trial recruiting at the three Texas campuses, under the same sponsor and by the same method of holding a phone against the abdomen.
- 2026-09-24
The trial is still listed as recruiting at the same Texas campuses. A phone held against the abdomen is still the method under test.
- 2026-09-27
The trial of a phone microphone counting fetal movement still stands as the universities described it.
The evidence
Every fact above rests on one of these. The words are the source's own.
This trial is a prospective, observational, feasibility study of 60 patients that includes both low-risk and high-risk pregnant women to examine the usability of the Womb Watch smartphone application.ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT07626112 Primary source, official · clinicaltrials.gov
In our recent pilot STUDY00001552 of 205 pregnant patients, placement of the iPhone10 microphone directly on the maternal abdominal wall was utilized to detect fetal movements.ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT07626112 Primary source, official · clinicaltrials.gov
AI assessment of the audio recordings proved superior to maternal perception of fetal movements that were recorded during simultaneous ultrasound (gross fetal movements: 64% audio vs 18% maternal; breathing: 93% vs 3%, hiccups: 73% vs 3%).ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT07626112 Primary source, official · clinicaltrials.gov
Dell Medical School- University of Texas at AustinClinicalTrials.gov, NCT07626112 Primary source, official · clinicaltrials.gov
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston - UTMB HealthClinicalTrials.gov, NCT07626112 Primary source, official · clinicaltrials.gov
McGovern Medical School - UTHealth HoustonClinicalTrials.gov, NCT07626112 Primary source, official · clinicaltrials.gov
Professor of Women's HealthClinicalTrials.gov, NCT07626112 Primary source, official · clinicaltrials.gov
Questions about this decision
Answered from the record itself. Every answer is assembled from stored fields, so an answer the record has no basis for is left out rather than guessed.
What is this decision?
A feasibility trial registered on the federal clinical trials registry is recruiting pregnant patients at three Texas academic campuses. The lead sponsor is a professor of women's health at the University of Texas at Austin. Participants place a smartphone microphone on the abdominal wall and the recorded audio is assessed by a machine rather than by the patient's own sense of movement. The registered design is a prospective observational feasibility study of 60 patients drawn from both low risk and high risk pregnancies. What it measures is whether the application is usable rather than whether it prevents any loss. The registration reports an earlier pilot of 205 patients in which the machine assessment outperformed maternal perception against simultaneous ultrasound. The record gives a study start of August 6th, 2026 and was last updated on September 14th, 2026.
Who decides it?
University of Texas at Austin decides. The record names the deciding body for every entry it carries.
Can the public take part?
The registration is public and carries the study design, the sponsor and every participating site. Enrollment is through the campuses themselves rather than through any public window. The study page carries the registry record in readable form, with the eligibility criteria and the contact for enquiries. No dated public window is on the record. The deciding body is named and reachable.
Where in Texas does it apply?
It covers Galveston, Harris and Travis Counties.
Has it been decided?
It has been decided. The dates on the item page carry when.
What happens next?
No future date is on the record. The last dated step on it was filed on September 14th.
When did it start?
The earliest date on its record is August 6th, 2026.
What kind of decision is it?
It is filed under health and education.
What sources back it?
One source backs it. It is primary.
Is it on the ERCOT grid?
Yes. It sits inside the ERCOT interconnection.
When was it last checked?
Every fact on it was last verified against its source on September 27th, 2026.
Cite this
Texas AI Docket, A three campus Texas trial tests whether a phone microphone held to the abdomen can count fetal movement by machine. Tracked since August 6th, 2026. Last verified September 27th, 2026. https://texasaidocket.com/item/tx-2026-0166/. Reuse permitted under CC BY 4.0 with attribution. The same entry is in the docket JSON as item tx-2026-0166.
Beat
Filed under Health and education, with every other decision on that beat.