Method and apparatus for displaying body sounds and performing diagnosis based on body sound analysis

• US 20020183642A1
• Filed: 02/21/2002
• Published: 12/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stethographics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Raymond L.H. Murphy
• Inventors: Murphy, Raymond L.H.
• Granted Patent: US 6,790,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/532
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/061 Determining position of a probe within the body employing means separate from the probe, e.g. sensing internal probe position employing impedance electrodes on the surface of the body A61B1/00158 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7264 Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems neural networks per se G06N3/00; expert systems per se G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/003 Detecting lung or respiration noise
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/00 Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves imaging of objects using sonar G01S15/00

Abstract

A lung sound diagnostic system for use in collecting, organizing and analyzing lung sounds associated with the inspiration(s) and expiration(s) of a patient. The system includes a plurality of transducers that may be placed at various sites around the patient'"'"'s chest. The microphones are coupled to signal processing circuitry and A/D converters which digitize the data and preferably provides the digital data to a computer station. A data collection and organization program, executing on the computer station, organizes and formats the data into a combination display for display or printing. The combinational display includes at least two display elements. In a first display element, the data is shown for both inspiration and expiration combined in a first time scale. In a second display element, the data for inspiration and expiration are shown individually in a second time scale that is time-expanded relative to the first time scale. The system may also include application programs for detecting and classifying abnormal sounds. The resulting information may be displayed in a variety of formats to facilitate diagnosis. Additionally, the system may include an analysis program for comparing selected criteria corresponding to the detected abnormal sounds with predefined thresholds in order to provide a likely diagnosis.

Claims

1. A method for collecting, organizing and displaying lung sound information during the inspiration and expiration of a patient as detected by a plurality of transducers placed at various sites around the patient'"'"'s chest, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving digital data corresponding to the lung sounds detected by the transducers; and

generating, in response to the digital data, a display on a graphical user interface, the display having a display element in which the detected lung sounds from at least one transducer is plotted as a function of frequency over time.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the detected lung sounds from a plurality of transducers are plotted in a vertically stacked configuration.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the display element may be one of a plurality of colors and the method further comprises the step of modifying the color of the display element to reflect intensity of a detected sound at a given time and frequency.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the sound intensity is indicated by one or more colors.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein in the plotted frequency ranges from approximately zero to 500 Hz.

6. A diagnostic system for use with a patient, the diagnostic system comprising:

a plurality of transducers for placement at various sites around the patient, the transducers configured to generate signals that are responsive to sounds from within the patient;

a sound generator configured to input a sound to the patient;

a data collector and organizer configured to receive the signals generated by the plurality of transducers in response to the input sound; and

a display screen operatively coupled to the data collector and organizer, wherein

the date collector and organizer displays the signals received by the plurality of transducers in response to the input sound on the display screen.

7. The diagnostic system of claim 6 wherein the sound generator is configured to produce a continuous sound.

8. The diagnostic system of claim 6 wherein the sound generator is configured to produce a discontinuous sound.

9. The diagnostic system of claim 6 wherein the sound generator is configured to produce an input sound that varies in frequency over time.

10. The diagnostic system of claim 6 wherein

the sound generator includes a speaker and a tube having two ends,

the speaker is disposed at a first end of the tube, and

a second end of the tube may be received at the patient'"'"'s mouth.

11. The diagnostic system of claim 6 wherein the data collector and organizer includes an application program running on a computer system.

12. The diagnostic system of claim 6 wherein the data collector and organizer is further configured to display any resonating sound that is produced within the patient and continues after the input sound is terminated.

13. The diagnostic system of claim 12 wherein the data collector and organizer is further configured to display a representation of the input sound as well as the signals from one or more transducers in amplitude versus time format along the same time axis.

15. The diagnostic system of claim 14 wherein the three-dimensional representation includes one or more image planes, each image plane corresponding to a virtual cross-section of the patient.

16. The diagnostic system of claim 15 wherein the image planes are parallel to each other and aligned horizontally relative to an upright position of the patient.

17. The diagnostic system of claim 15 wherein the markings appear on the image planes.

18. The diagnostic system of claim 14 further comprising an adventitious sound detector configured to receive and analyze the signals generated by the plurality of transducers so as to identify one of an adventitious and a normal sound, and further wherein the given sound for which three-dimensional coordinates are calculated corresponds to an adventitious or a normal sound identified by the adventitious sound detector.

19. The diagnostic system of claim 18 wherein the detected adventitious sounds include at least one of crackles and wheezes.

20. The diagnostic system of claim 19 wherein

the display is continuous running display while the patient breathes, and

the markings appear on the three-dimensional representation at the point in times at which the respective adventitious sounds are detected.

21. The diagnostic system of claim 18 wherein the sound localizer utilizes crosscorrelation techniques as applied to a plurality of signals that correspond to the same adventitious or normal sound event to calculate the three-dimensional coordinates of the adventitious or normal sound event.

22. The diagnostic system of claim 21 wherein the sound localizer

computes a probability that the adventitious or normal sound event under analysis originated from a plurality of locations within the patient, and

selects the location having the highest probability as the three-dimensional coordinates for the respective adventitious or normal sound event under analysis.

23. The diagnostic system of claim 22 wherein a probability is computed for each location over a range of assumed sound speeds, and the location and sound speed presenting the highest probability are selected as the three-dimensional coordinates and sound speed for the respective adventitious or normal sound event under analysis.

24. The diagnostic system of claim 18 wherein the sound localizer and the adventitious sound detector are application programs running on a computer system.

14. A diagnostic system for use with a patient, the diagnostic system comprising:

a plurality of transducers for placement at various sites around the patient, the transducers configured to generate signals that are responsive to sounds from within the patient;

a sound localizer configured to receive the signals generated by the plurality of transducers for a given sound and to calculate a set of three dimensional coordinates corresponding to an origin of the given sound; and

a display screen operatively coupled to the sound localizer, wherein

the sound localizer generates a three-dimensional representation of the patient that includes one or more markings for the given sound, the one or more markings appearing on the three-dimensional representation in relation to the calculated coordinates.