202 results about "Electronic stethoscope" patented technology

A portable, integrated physiological monitoring system is described for use in clinical outpatient environments. This systems consists of a plethora of sensors and auxiliary devices, an electronics unit (100) that interfaces to the sensors and devices, and a portable personal computer (102). Electrodes (106) are provided to acquisition electrocardiographic, electroencephalographic, and neuromuscular signals. Electrodes (108) are provided to stimulate neural and muscular tissue. A finger pulse oximeter (110), an M-mode ultrasonic transducer (112), an airflow sensor (114), a temperature probe (120), a patient event switch (116), and an electronic stethoscope (118) are provided. A portable personal computer (102) interfaces to the electronics unit (100) via a standard parallel printer port interface (258) to allow communication of commands and information to / from the electronics unit (100). Control and display of the information gathered from the electronics unit (100) is accomplished via an application program executing on the portable personal computer (102). Sharing of common data acquisition hardware along with preliminary processing of information gathered is accomplished within the electronics unit (100). The entire system is battery operated and portable. This system, because of its architecture, offers significant cost advantages as well as unique modes of operation that cannot be achieved from the individual physiological parameter measurement devices alone. The system allows for the integration of acquisitioned information from the sensors into a patient's database stored on the portable personal computer.

In a local stethoscope unit, acoustic auscultation sounds picked up by the stethoscope chest piece assembly of a local stethoscope unit are converted to analog electrical signals and then converted to digital signals. The digital signals are conveyed to a data communications system, having data communications device and a data communication channel. The digital signals are transmitted over the digital communications system to a remote stethoscope receiving unit. The remote stethoscope unit converts the digital signals back to the original analog signals suitable for listening.

A method and apparatus for characterizing the response of an electronic stethoscope. The sensor of the electronic stethoscope is held in contact with a test surface of a phantom. A shaker, which is coupled to a stinger rod that extends inside the phantom, is driven to produce internal vibrations in the phantom. Surface motion of the test surface of the phantom is measured using a surface accelerometer coupled to the test surface. Vibrations from the phantom are detected and an electric signal based on the detected vibrations is generated with the electronic stethoscope. A surface transfer function is calculated based on the measured surface motion and the electric signal to characterize the response of the electronic stethoscope.

An electronic stethoscope head includes a head member having a contact surface for contact with a patient's body, a transducer in the head member, and an adhesive on the contact surface. A processing system for an electronic stethoscope includes a conditioning circuit configured to receive a transducer signal from a transducer and to be capable of amplifying and / or filtering the transducer signal, to yield a conditioned signal. There is also a signal processor system configured to subject the conditioned signal to an audio editing process. Bodily sounds are detected by applying an electronic stethoscope head a patient's body; generating a patient sonograph of the patient's bodily sounds; and comparing the patient sonograph to a reference sonograph. An electronic stethoscope system may include an accessory device and control circuitry to control the accessory device when abnormal bowel sounds are detected or no bowel sounds are detected for a predetermined interval.

An acoustic-electronic stethoscope that filters aberrant environmental background noise. The chest piece employs acoustic vents to inhibit resonant amplification of noise and contains a diaphragm design that focuses vibrational energy to a raised ring, which transfers and further focuses the energy to a piezoelectric polymer sensor with dual elements. The ensuing electrical signal is then preamplified with the low frequency sound, comprising predominantly background noise, filtered out. The stethoscope contains a binaural head set and output jack for down loading of data. Furthermore, areas normally subject to exposure and damage to water, such as the chest piece and headset, are water-tight.

A medical diagnostic and communications apparatus with audio output comprises an electronic processor for processing stethoscope signals and secondary audio signals. An electronic stethoscope sensor is contained within a housing for transducing body sounds to electronic signals, and is operatively connected to the electronic processor. One or more secondary audio signal sources operatively connects to the electronic processor. A common audio output is connected to electronic processor to convert electronic stethoscope signals or secondary audio signals to acoustic output. These sounds may be produced separately or mixed.

A mobile telecommunication unit (20) provides two-way remote viewing of images and real time audio. The self-contained, portable unit (20) communicates directly with a similar unit at a remote location across POTS lines, cellular, ISDN, T-1, and satellite communication links. The unit (20) includes mass storage for archiving images. Input devices (25) for each unit include a digital camera (36) through a PCMCIA card, electronic stethoscope, telephone handset, speakerphone, external microphone, and serial and parallel ports. The output devices include a full color screen (22) for viewing local and received images and a speaker for audio output. A hard copy of images can be made by a video printer or desktop printer (42). Images can be uploaded to a PC.

An electronic stethoscope comprises a local unit (1-6) and an outer auxiliary processing unit (PU). The local unit (1-6) comprises:—a microphone (10),—first coupling means (11) that can receive an auscultation signal supplied by the microphone (10), and transmit it to the auxiliary processing unit (PU), on a first link,—second coupling means (13) that can receive an audio signal, from the auxiliary processing unit (PU), on a second link,—and sound reproducing means (14), for reproducing an audio signal supplied by the second coupling means (13); The auxiliary processing unit (PU) comprises:—receiving means (21) that can receive an auscultation signal from a local unit (1-6), on a first link,—processing means for processing an auscultation signal received by the receiving means, and restituting an improved auscultation signal;—and transmitting means (22) that can send the improved auscultation signal to a local unit (1-6), on the second link

A medical diagnostic and communications apparatus with audio output comprises an electronic processor for processing stethoscope signals and secondary audio signals. An electronic stethoscope sensor is contained within a housing for transducing body sounds to electronic signals, and is operatively connected to the electronic processor. One or more secondary audio signal sources operatively connects to the electronic processor. A common audio output is connected to electronic processor to convert electronic stethoscope signals or secondary audio signals to acoustic output. These sounds may be produced separately or mixed.

The present invention discloses an electronic stethoscope with a Piezo-Electrical Film contact microphone comprising a stethoscope head with a Piezo-Electrical Film contact microphone inside, and the stethoscope head is electrically connected to a circuit and a microcontroller unit (MCU). The microcontroller unit is connected to a front-end operational amplifier (OP-amp) circuit, a wave filter circuit, and a transmit circuit, such that when the stethoscope is used, the weak sound signal received by contacting stethoscope head with a human body is sent to the OP amplifier. The amplified sound signal (such as heart sound and lung sound) selectively measured by the switch module is processed by the microcontroller unit and the wave filter. The filtered sound signal is sent to a transmit / receive circuit, so that the wave filter circuit can filter the noise of the sound signal produced by human bodies under the control of the microcontroller unit, and medical people can make correct diagnostics based on the correct sound received through the transmit / receive circuits.

An embodiment of an auscultation device can be constructed using electronic components to provide improved acquisition, processing, and communication of sound signals. An input device can be used for detecting sounds, and electrical signals representing the sounds can be processed and transmitted via Bluetooth and / or another form of wireless communication. Such embodiments can employ, at least in part, one or more of several commercially available wireless receiver devices, such as, without limitation, headsets and headphones, mobile phones, PDAs and / or other handheld devices, desktop, laptop, palmtop, and / or tablet computers and / or other computer devices and / or electronic devices.

In well-known electronic stethoscopic transducers the sensitive element is influenced by signals transmitted via the skin, and the rear side is enclosed in a housing to prevent airborne noise from reaching the sensitive element. According to the invention, an improved signal-to-noise ratio is obtained by letting the transducer be a piezoelectric transflexural diaphragm in contact with the skin, the rear side of the diaphragm communicating with the surronding air via an acoustical network, thereby receiving airborne noise which acts to counteract the influence of noise coming from the skin.

The invention belongs to the technical field of medical machinery, and relates to an electronic stethoscope which is used for auxiliary diagnosis and is capable of intelligently distinguishing physiological parameters, such as heart sounds and breath sounds, judging the types of the heart sounds and the breath sounds, and extracting the disease characteristics. The electronic stethoscope comprises a processor unit, and a signal collection unit, an external drive unit, a storage unit and a data bus interface unit which are connected with the processor unit, wherein the signal collection unit is used for collecting the signals of the heart sounds and the breath sounds and implementing the pre-processing on the signals; the processor unit is used for implementing the pattern recognition algorithms on the heart sounds and the breath sounds, separating the two sounds from each other, intelligently distinguishing and classifying the signals of the heart sounds and the breath sounds, and managing the other hardware units; the storage unit is used for storing the programs and the extension programs thereof, storing the data of the heart sounds and the breath sounds, the standard heart sounds and the breath sounds, and the audition model of each typical case of the disease, and outputting and playing; and the external drive unit and the data bus interface unit are used for implementing external operation function drive and data communication.

The invention provides an electronic stethoscope. The electronic stethoscope comprises a stethoscope head for being contacted with the body surface during auscultation so that acoustic signals sent by organs and radiated by the body surface generate resonance and the resonance acoustic signals are converted into electric signals, a host machine for amplifying and filtering the electric signals converted by the stethoscope head and converting the electric signals processed into acoustic signals, and a loudspeaker for playing the acoustic signals converted by the host machine. The electronic stethoscope provided by the invention can monitor and record sounds at various frequencies sent by various organs such as heart sounds, bowelsounds, lung sounds, and fetal heart sounds, is suitable for diagnosing various diseases, and is simple in structure and using method, and can effectively isolate external noises so as to improve the diagnosing accuracy.

A tool for neurological and diagnostic testing comprises the combination of a stethoscope with a reflex hammer. When mounted on the stethoscope head the reflex hammer extends beyond the head, without interfering with the normal use of the stethoscope. A handle, which may or may not be joined to the reflex hammer, is positioned on the flexible stethoscope tubing and provides a gripping surface for using the tool for neurological testing. One embodiment has an opening between the reflex hammer body and the handle enabling the user to grasp and rotate the stethoscope head. The reflex hammer, which can be made from one or more members, is adaptable for use with binaural and electronic stethoscopes. A detent on the handle provides an ergonomic grip, or a place for inclusion of indicia.

The present invention describes a contact type electronic stethoscope with a noise interference resisting function for auscultation, and the stethoscope includes a chest piece for contacting a patient's body, a contact type microphone installed in the chest piece for receiving sounds of patient's organs, and an elastic member disposed on an external side of the contact type microphone, so that harsh sounds and irrelevant noises produced by rubbing the surface of clothes with the patient's body can be avoided during an auscultation, if the piece chest is pressed and contacted with the patient's body without reaching a predetermined pressure and maintains a predetermined distance from the patient's body.

A system includes an electronic stethoscope producing a quasi-periodic signal, a processor, and a memory device with stored instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to receive a representation of the quasi-periodic signal, to remove a DC component from the received representation of the quasi-periodic signal to produce a purely time-varying signal, and to filter, the time-varying signal to produce a pre-processed signal. A portion of the pre-processed signal is auto-correlated with itself, and a corresponding auto-correlation output is stored. A biphasic tapering function is applied to the auto-correlation output and produces a first maximum, the function including a time constant parameter that is a function of the quasi-periodic signal. A representation is stored, based on the first maximum, as an indication of a rate or frequency of the quasi-periodic signal.

A digital electronic stethoscope includes an acoustic sensor assembly that includes a body sensor portion and an ambient sensor portion, the body sensor portion being configured to make acoustically coupled contact with a subject while the ambient sensor portion is configured to face away from the body sensor portion so as to capture environmental noise proximate the body sensor portion; a signal processor and data storage system configured to communicate with the acoustic sensor assembly so as to receive detection signals therefrom, the detection signals including an auscultation signal comprising body target sound and a noise signal; and an output device configured to communicate with the signal processor and data storage system to provide at least one of an output signal or information derived from the output signal. The signal processor and data storage system includes a noise reduction system that removes both stationary noise and non-stationary noise from the detection signal to provide a clean auscultation signal substantially free of distortions. The signal processor and data storage system further includes an auscultation sound classification system configured to receive the clean auscultation signal and provide a classification thereof as at least one of a normal breath sound or an abnormal breath sound.

A method for diagnosis of diseases adopted on an electronic stethoscope which includes at least two sound receiving portions, a noise control portion, a processing portion, a data portion and an output portion. The method includes: first, the sound receiving portions receive sound signals issued from a patient's lungs included external noises; next, the sound signals are sent to the noise control portion which eliminates the external noise, and the processing portion to be overlapped and intensified; then characteristic values are retrieved from the sound signals to be compared with disease sound signal data in the data portion; finally the output portion outputs a diseases judgment result. Thus the electronic stethoscope can perform automatic interpretation of diseases to reduce human erroneous diagnostic judgment. Users also can get preliminary understanding of their body conditions when doctors are absent.

An electronic stethoscope has a body with a diaphragm at one end of the body. A microphone is housed within the body, wherein the microphone is to generate a first analog audio signal based on sounds waves amplified by the diaphragm. A processing device is also housed within the body and connected to the microphone. The processing device is to receive a second audio signal from a computing device connected to the electronic stethoscope via a connection, and enable the microphone responsive to receipt of the second audio signal.

The invention is a multifunctional electronic stethoscope, including a sensor, a band-pass filter set, a D / A converter, a micro-controller and a speaker. Its character: the filter set contains multiple band-pass filters corresponding to different sound bands, the stethoscope also has an input unit for the user to input mode-switch command, and the micro-controller receives the command to select one signal of band-pass filter corresponding to the command and then outputs the signal to the speaker.

A telemedicine auscultation consultation system belongs to the technical field of electronic information and telemedicine. The invention includes a doctor terminal computer, a user terminal computer, an electronic stethoscope, a hardware switching device and a network. The doctor terminal computer has a voice microphone and a camera, and has interface design, network communication, real-time display, auxiliary diagnosis, database and help system sub-modules; The doctor's terminal computer can receive audio data from the network, and can play and realize the data waveform, and obtain auxiliary diagnosis parameters; the user terminal computer has a voice microphone and a camera, and has interface design, real-time display, network communication and help system sub-modules , the user terminal computer can transmit audio data to the network; the electronic stethoscope is used to collect the heart sound data of the patient, and is connected with the stethoscope interface of hardware switching and transposition; the hardware switching device is used for switching between voice and heart sound; the network is used to connect the user terminal and doctor terminal, and can transmit audio data.

An apparatus for processing auscultation signals, e.g. embedded in an electronic stethoscope with a digital readout of an estimated heart rate. The apparatus comprises a bias processor for receiving an auscultation signal and providing a biased auscultation signal; said bias processor comprising an envelope detector and an estimator for calculating a signal representative of the beat frequency of the auscultation signal. In one aspect the information in the biased auscultation signal that is in conformity with the repeated information in the auscultation signal is enhanced. This may e.g. be done by calculating the conformity between the biased auscultation and at least a part of the biased auscultation signal. In another aspect of the invention the auscultation signal is biased by means of A-weighing. Preferably the two aspects of the invention are combined.

The invention relates to the field of medical instruments, in particular to an electronic stethoscope and an electronic stethoscopy system. The electronic stethoscope comprises an electronic sensor, a microcontroller unit (MCU), a signal selection circuit, a Bluetooth circuit, a display circuit, a storage circuit, a signal processing circuit and a power supply system. The signal selection circuit selects different stethoscopy frequencies through keys, signals are acquired through the electronic sensor, the acquired signals are transmitted to the signal processing circuit, and digital signals obtained after processing are transmitted to the MCU. The Bluetooth circuit, the display circuit, the storage circuit and the power supply system are connected with the MCU, and the Bluetooth circuit is further connected with a plurality of Bluetooth headsets, so that the multi-user stethoscopy function is achieved. The electronic stethoscope is combined with a local PC and a remote PC, has a wide stethoscopy range, a high signal processing capacity and the functions of user-friendly stethoscopy, recording and playback, intelligent stethoscopy, remote consultation and the like, and can be integrated in other medical software systems.

An electronic stethoscope apparatus includes a bioacoustics sensor configured to sense bioacoustics; a noise sensor configured to sense noise in the sensed bioacoustics; and a noise remover configured to remove the sensed noise and output the bioacoustics from which the noise has been removed.

An electronic stethoscope system that reduces cross-infection when examining a patient is provided. The electronic stethoscope system includes a handheld auscultation portion for picking up bodily sounds of a patient. The detected bodily sounds are transmitted to a base unit having a loudspeaker for broadcasting an audible representation of the detected bodily sounds. The sounds are transmitted to the base unit either by a wireless transmitter and receiver or by way of a disposable flexible tubing adapted for transmitting acoustic waves.

A system and method are provided for diagnosis of bovine respiratory diseases using auscultation techniques wherein the acoustic characteristics of a recorded spectrogram is compared with existing data enabling a caregiver to make a diagnosis for a diseased animal. Lung sounds are obtained by use of an electronic stethoscope, and the sounds are stored as digital data. Signal conditioning is used to place the data in a desired format and to remove undesirable noise associated with the recorded sounds. An algorithm is applied to data, and lung scores are calculated. The lung scores are then categorized into various levels of perceived pathology / disease within the animal based upon baseline data that categorizes the lung scores. From the lung scores, a caregiver may then associate a diagnosis, prognosis, and a recommended treatment. Analysis software in the present invention generates the lung scores from the recorded sounds, and may also provide the user a visual display of presumptive diagnoses as well as recommended treatments.