Good news! The good old stethoscope is getting an upgrade! 😊
"Valvular heart disease (VHD) is a potentially fatal condition, yet it's difficult to diagnose with a regular stethoscope. A possibly life-saving new multi-sensor stethoscope is claimed to be much better at the job, with the added benefit that it can be used by just about anyone. ...
the flexible handheld device is about the size and shape of a drink coaster, and it incorporates not one but six vibration-detecting piezoelectric sensors. ...
Those sensors are separated from one another by a vibration-absorbing silicone gel, allowing each one to operate completely independent of the others. Signal-quality-assessing algorithms automatically select the sensors that are receiving the best readings, ignoring those that lack sufficient diagnostic quality.
This multi-sensor design reportedly makes the device much better at detecting the telltale heart sounds associated with VHD, enough so that it can be used overtop of clothing by people with little training – possibly even by the patients themselves. ..."
"The researchers ... developed a device that makes it easy for people with or without medical training to record heart sounds accurately. Unlike a stethoscope, the device works well even if it’s not placed precisely on the chest: its larger, flexible sensing area helps capture clearer heart sounds than traditional stethoscopes.
The device can also be used over clothing, making it more comfortable for patients – especially women – during routine check-ups or community heart health screening programmes. ..."
From the abstract:
"Heart valve disease has a large and growing burden, with a prognosis worse than many cancers. Screening with a traditional stethoscope is underutilised, often inaccurate even in skilled hands, and requires time-consuming, intimate examinations.
Here, we present a handheld device to enable untrained users to record high-quality heart sounds without requiring patients to undress.
The device incorporates multiple high-sensitivity sensors embedded in a flexible substrate, placed at key chest locations by the user.
To address challenges from localised heart sound vibrations and noise interference, we developed time-frequency signal quality algorithms that automatically select the best sensor in the device and reject recordings with insufficient diagnostic quality.
A validation study demonstrates the device's effectiveness across a diverse range of body types, with multiple sensors significantly increasing the likelihood of a successful recording. The device has the potential to enable accurate, accessible, low-cost heart disease screening."
Handheld device could transform heart disease screening (original news release) "Researchers have developed a handheld device that could potentially replace stethoscopes as a tool for detecting certain types of heart disease."
A flexible multi-sensor device enabling handheld sensing of heart sounds by untrained users (no public access)
A flexible multi-sensor device enabling handheld sensing of heart sounds by untrained users (preprint, open access)
Fig. 1 Design and example usage of sensor prototype. a, Exploded schematic of full sensor prototype.
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