Method of ''integrated'' phonocardiography
Integrated phonocardiographic amplifier for transmission of heart muscle signals from spacecraft
SEARCH · Search NASA
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Integrated phonocardiographic amplifier for transmission of heart muscle signals from spacecraft
Physicians have used the stethoscope to listen to heart sounds for over 150 years. During this time the stethoscope has remained nearly unchanged. While the device is inexpensive, simple and easy to use, it has shortcomings as a diagnostic tool. It is dependent on human hearing to detect the complex sounds made by the heart, and human memory to analyze them. There also has been a significant decline in the use of stethoscope, at least in part because of the availability of technologies such as the echocardiogram, which can provide imaging and blood flow through the heart chambers. However, echocardiography can be complex, costly and time consuming and requires the need for a specialist, all of which delay the diagnosis and increase the cost of patient evaluation. Even with the availability of echocardiogram devices such as the handheld pocket ultrasound, diagnosing heart problems can still be difficult. The Infrascope is a new device that resembles a traditional stethoscope and is simple to use. In addition, the Infrascope offers greater sensitivity and a wider range of frequencies heard by the human ear, <20Hz than a traditional stethoscope can detect. Through automated analysis of the full spectrum of heart sounds, it has the potential to improve diagnostic accuracy while reducing the need for referrals, allowing primary care physicians to practice better medicine at the bedside.
Pulse technique for recording blood pressure of dogs during space flights - phonocardiography
Technology developed for signal and data processing was applied to diagnostic techniques in the area of phonocardiography (pcg), the graphic recording of the sounds of the heart generated by the functioning of the aortic and ventricular valves. The relatively broad bandwidth of the PCG signal (20 to 2000 Hz) was reduced to less than 100 Hz by the use of a heart sound envelope. The process involves full-wave rectification of the PCG signal, envelope detection of the rectified wave, and low pass filtering of the resultant envelope.
The resolving power of the auditory apparatus permits discrete vibrations associated with cardiac activity to be perceived as one or more events. Irrespective of the vibratory combinations recorded by conventional phonocardiography, in normal adults and in most adult patients auscultators tend to discriminate only two discrete events associated with the first heart sound S1. It is stressed that the heart sound S4 may be present when a binary acoustic event associated with S1 occurs in the sequence 'low pitched sound preceding high pitched sound', i.e., its components are perceived by auscultation as 'dull-sharp'. The question of S4 audibility arises in those individuals, normal and diseased, in whom the major components of S1 ought to be, at least clinically, at their customary high pitch and indeed on the PCG appear as high frequency oscillations. It is revealed that the apparent audibility of recorded S4 is not related to P-R interval, P-S4 interval, or relative amplitude of S4. The significant S4-LFC (low frequency component of S1) differences can be related to acoustic modification of the early component of S1.
Correlation of electric and mechanical activity of cardiac cycle using electro- and phonocardiographic data from Gemini IV crew members