Development of a Finger-Ring-Shaped Hybrid Smart Stethoscope for Automatic S1 and S2 Heart Sound Identification

Cardiac auscultation is one of the most popular diagnosis approaches to determine cardiovascular status based on listening to heart sounds with a stethoscope. However, heart sounds can be masked by visceral sounds such as organ movement and breathing, and a doctor’s level of experience can more seriously affect the accuracy of auscultation results. To improve the accuracy of auscultation, and to allow nonmedical staff to conduct cardiac auscultation anywhere and anytime, a hybrid-type personal smart stethoscope with an automatic heart sound analysis function is presented in this paper. The device was designed with a folding finger-ring shape that can be worn on the finger and placed on the chest to measure photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals and acquire the heart sound simultaneously. The measured heart sounds are detected as phonocardiogram (PCG) signals, and the boundaries of the heart sound variation and the peaks of the PPG signal are detected in preprocessing by an advanced Shannon entropy envelope. According to the relationship between PCG and PPG signals, an automatic heart sound analysis algorithm based on calculating the time interval between the first and second heart sounds (S1, S2) and the peak of the PPG was developed and implemented via the manufactured prototype device. The prototype device underwent accuracy and usability testing with 20 young adults, and the experimental results showed that the proposed smart stethoscope could satisfactorily collect the heart sounds and PPG signals. In addition, within the developed algorithm, the device was as accurate in start-points of heart sound detection as professional physiological signal-acquisition systems. Furthermore, the experimental results demonstrated that the device was able to identify S1 and S2 heart sounds automatically with high accuracy.

Magnetic Pre-Loading for a Tonpilz-Type Acoustic Projector

This paper describes a new magnet-based method for applying a compressive pre-load to the piezoceramic elements of a Tonpilz-type acoustic projector, with the advantage of lower damping due to mechanical friction and a greater range of unhampered resonant motion since no plate spring is required. The Tonpilz-type acoustic projector can be applied to structural health monitoring studies involving air coupled ultrasound. Acoustic model predictions and the measured behaviour of a relaxor ferroelectric single crystal (RFSC) based prototype device, operating in air, are presented and show good correlation. With a 5 V drive, at 9420 Hz resonance, the prototype device generates a sound pressure level of 113 dB measured at an axial distance of 5 mm. The maximum peak tip displacement of the device’s head mass is predicted to be 0.7 µm at resonance. This is well within the 2 µm displacement produced by the 90 N magnetic pre-load, thus protecting the RFSC ceramic element from damaging tensile stress.

Highly Sensitive Optical Sensor for Selective Detection of Fluoride Level in Drinking Water: Methodology to Fabrication of Prototype Device

<p><b>Excess consumption of fluoride through drinking water and its detrimental effects on human health have been a serious global concern. Therefore, frequent monitoring as well as quantitative determination of fluoride ion (F^-) concentration in aqueous media is of vital importance. Herein, we have developed a facile</b> <b>and</b> <b>highly sensitive spectroscopic technique for selective detection of F^- in aqueous media using aluminium phthalocyanine chloride (AlPc-Cl) as a sensor. The absorbance as well as steady-state fluorescence intensity of AlPc-Cl has been found to decrease in presence of F^- which has been used as a marker for the determination of fluoride ion concentration in water. The structural change in AlPc-Cl after addition of F^- has been thoroughly studied by using ¹⁹F NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) spectroscopy. Our detailed steady-state as well as time-resolved fluorescence studies reveal that the quenching mechanism is static in nature due to ground state complexation in between F^- and AlPc-Cl molecules. The response of the sensor is found to be linear over the F^- concentration regime from 0 to 6 parts per million (ppm) with a detection limit of 0.05 ppm. Additionally, it shows an excellent selectivity as well as an insignificant change in sensitivity even in the presence of interfering iron and aluminium ions. Based on the detailed photophysical study, we have further developed a low cost and portable prototype device which shows an excellent sensitivity with the detection limit of 0.10 ppm. This prototype device has a high prospect for real-time monitoring of fluoride ion concentration especially in remote areas.</b></p>