PHYSIOLOGICAL ACOUSTIC MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20170007190A1
• Filed: 07/07/2016
• Published: 01/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Masimo Corporation
• Original Assignee: Masimo Corporation
• Inventors: Al-Ali, Ammar, Lee, Sung Uk
• Granted Patent: US 9,867,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0204 Acoustic sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0002 Remote monitoring of patients using telemetry, e.g. transmission of vital signals via a communication network A61B5/07 takes precedence; transmission systems for measured values G08C; transmission H04B; transmission of digital information H04L; wireless communication networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0826 Detecting or evaluating apnoea events A61B5/4818 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4803 Speech analysis specially adapted for diagnostic purposes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4818 Sleep apnoea
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6833 Adhesive patches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7278 Artificial waveform generation or derivation, e.g. synthesising signals from measured signals A61B5/327 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7282 Event detection, e.g. detecting unique waveforms indicative of a medical condition A61B5/4094, A61B5/4818, A61B5/349, A61B5/0823 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7415 Sound rendering of measured values, e.g. by pitch or volume variation A61B5/741 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/003 Detecting lung or respiration noise
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/008 Detecting noise of gastric tract, e.g. caused by voiding
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/04 Electric stethoscopes microphones, acoustic transducers therefor H04R

Abstract

An acoustic monitoring system has an acoustic front-end, a first signal path from the acoustic front-end directly to an audio transducer and a second signal path from the acoustic front-end to an acoustic data processor via an analog-to-digital converter. The acoustic front-end receives an acoustic sensor signal responsive to body sounds in a person. The audio transducer provides continuous audio of the body sounds. The acoustic data processor provides audio of the body sounds upon user demand.

Claims

1-7. -7. (canceled)

8. A method of generating synthetic physiological sound responsive to a signal detected by an acoustic sensor attached to a patient, the method comprising:

processing, at a patient monitor, a signal from an acoustic sensor responsive to a piezoelectric modulation of the acoustic sensor;

detecting envelope features in the processed signal responsive to a periodic physiological process;

generating an idealized envelope based on the detected envelope features;

comparing the signal with sound signatures corresponding to physiological sounds stored in a first data repository;

detecting a physiological event from the processed signal based on the comparison of the signal with the sound signatures; and

generating a synthetic physiological sound comprising a first sound corresponding to the generated idealized envelope and a second sound corresponding to a portion of the processed signal with the detected physiological event.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the physiological sounds comprise breathing, speech, chocking, swallow, spasms, coughing, gasping, heart, and gastrointestinal sounds.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the idealized envelope is represented as breath tag.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting the breath tag over a network in lieu of the processed signal.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting the portion of the signal over the network.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising compressing the portion of the signal prior to the transmission over the network.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the synthetic physiological sound is generated on a first computing system remote from the physiological monitor.

15. A system for generating synthetic physiological sound responsive to a signal detected by an acoustic sensor attached to a patient, the system comprising one or more hardware processors configured to:

process a signal from an acoustic sensor responsive to a piezoelectric modulation of the acoustic sensor;

detect envelope features in the processed signal responsive to a periodic physiological process;

generate an idealized envelope based on the detected envelope features;

compare the signal with sound signatures corresponding to physiological sounds stored in a first data repository;

detect a physiological event from the processed signal based on the comparison of the signal with the sound signatures; and

generate a synthetic physiological sound comprising a first sound corresponding to the generated idealized envelope and a second sound corresponding to a portion of the processed signal with the detected physiological event.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the physiological sounds comprise breathing, speech, chocking, swallow, spasms, coughing, gasping, heart, and gastrointestinal sounds.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the idealized envelope is represented as breath tag.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to transmit the breath tag over a network in lieu of the processed signal.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to transmit the portion of the signal over the network.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to compress the portion of the signal prior to the transmission over the network.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more hardware processors comprise a first hardware processor and second hardware processor located remotely from the first hardware processor over a network.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the execution of the generation of the synthetic sound is executed by the second hardware processor.

23. A system for generating synthetic physiological sound responsive to a signal detected by an acoustic sensor attached to a patient, the system comprising:

means for processing signal from an acoustic sensor responsive to a piezoelectric modulation of the acoustic sensor;

means for detecting an envelope from the processed signal;

means for detecting a physiological event from the processed signal; and

means for generating a synthetic physiological sound based on the envelope detection and detected physiological event.