Concept iteration | July 2025
Simplifying symptom documentation with AI
AI design
Clickable prototype
The backstory
Nearly 400 million people worldwide live with rare diseases (Groza et al., 2025), conditions so uncommon that many patients spend years searching for answers, often tracking symptoms in isolation. Despite advances in AI-powered research, patients still face the exhausting daily task of manually documenting every symptom, every change, and every detail that might hold the key to their diagnosis.
This reality became clear to me during the design challenge I worked on during the Transforming Rare Disease Care Through AI event. The solution my team and I designed was a patient-controlled health data platform for people with rare or undiagnosed diseases to organize medical history, document symptoms, and connect with care providers and research opportunities. Iterating on this solution, I took a closer look at one of the key features.
What I designed
A form-filling tool with a voice-to-text functionality, which makes it easier to document symptoms. How? By allowing users to voice record when creating a health journal entry. Instead of tapping each form field and typing out responses, users can tap the microphone feature and verbally describe their symptoms and other relevant information. AI then uses that information to fill in the corresponding form fields.
The problem it tackles
Picture this: you're experiencing unexplained fatigue, joint pain, and brain fog. You open your phone almost every night to log symptoms, tapping through form fields, typing descriptions of pain levels and triggers. Week after week, month after month, with no real immediate relief in sight. It's become a tedious task which you're not so sure will lead to answers. But consistent tracking can ultimately reveal the patterns that lead to diagnosis.
Voice-to-text removes this friction, making symptom documentation feel natural rather than burdensome, which is especially crucial for users with visual or physical impairments who would likely stop tracking altogether.
Business value
On the business side, the voice-to-text functionality lowers barriers and effort, promoting engagement with the health journal feature. And it adds a competitive edge as the functionality is still not common practice.
Interactive prototype with simulated AI functionality
Click the image below to open the prototype. It opens a new tab.
Created using Bolt.new to experiment with AI-assisted coding tools.
Design thinking
Accessibility and inclusive design: Voice-to-text removes barriers for users with visual or physical impairments, transforming a potentially impossible task into an intuitive interaction that can drive higher engagement.
Cognitive Load Theory: When users are already managing pain and symptoms, traditional form-filling adds unnecessary mental burden. Voice input eliminates this cognitive load by letting users focus on describing their experience rather than navigating interface elements.
Visibility of system status (Nielsen's Usability Heuristic): The time tracking and audio waves give users visual feedback that the voice-to-text functionality is enabled and AI is listening.
