RA-QA: Towards Respiratory Audio-based Health Question Answering

Respiratory diseases are a leading cause of death globally, highlighting the urgent need for early and accessible screening methods. While some lung auscultation analysis has been automated and machine learning audio based models are able to predict respiratory pathologies, there remains a critical gap: the lack of intelligent systems that can interact in real-time consultations using natural language. Unlike other clinical domains, such as electronic health records, radiological images, and biosignals, where numerous question-answering (QA) datasets and models have been established, audio-based modalities remain notably underdeveloped.