Heart-sound analyzing apparatus
First Claim
1. A heart-sound analyzing apparatus, comprising:
- a heart-sound microphone which is adapted to be worn on a living subject to iteratively detect a second heart sound II of the subject;
a respiration-synchronous-signal detecting device which iteratively detects a respiration-synchronous signal of the subject;
an inspiration-expiration judging means for judging, based on each of the respiration-synchronous signals iteratively detected by the respiration-synchronous-signal detecting device, whether the subject is in an inspiring state or in an expiring state; and
an aortic-valve-closing-timing determining means for iteratively determining a timing when an aortic valve of a heart of the subject closes, based on each of a plurality of second heart sounds II which are iteratively detected by the heart-sound microphone in a plurality of time intervals, respectively, in each of which the subject is judged as being in the inspiring state by the inspiration-expiration judging means.
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Abstract
A heart-sound analyzing apparatus, including a heart-sound microphone which is adapted to be worn on a living subject to iteratively detect a second heart sound II of the subject, a respiration-synchronous-signal detecting device which iteratively detects a respiration-synchronous signal of the subject, an inspiration-expiration judging device for judging, based on each of the respiration-synchronous signals iteratively detected by the respiration-synchronous-signal detecting device, whether the subject is in an inspiring state or in an expiring state, and an aortic-valve-closing-timing determining device for iteratively determining a timing when the aortic valve of the heart of the subject closes, based on each of second heart sounds II which are iteratively detected by the heart-sound microphone in time intervals, respectively, in each of which the subject is judged as being in the inspiring state by the inspiration-expiration judging device.
175 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A heart-sound analyzing apparatus, comprising:
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a heart-sound microphone which is adapted to be worn on a living subject to iteratively detect a second heart sound II of the subject;
a respiration-synchronous-signal detecting device which iteratively detects a respiration-synchronous signal of the subject;
an inspiration-expiration judging means for judging, based on each of the respiration-synchronous signals iteratively detected by the respiration-synchronous-signal detecting device, whether the subject is in an inspiring state or in an expiring state; and
an aortic-valve-closing-timing determining means for iteratively determining a timing when an aortic valve of a heart of the subject closes, based on each of a plurality of second heart sounds II which are iteratively detected by the heart-sound microphone in a plurality of time intervals, respectively, in each of which the subject is judged as being in the inspiring state by the inspiration-expiration judging means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
a smoothing means for smoothing, by differentiation, a waveform of the second heart sounds iteratively detected by the heart-sound microphone; and
a squaring means for squaring respective amplitudes of a plurality of data points on the smoothed waveform that are determined with respect to a base line of the smoothed waveform, wherein the aortic-valve-closing-timing determining means iteratively determines a timing when the aortic valve closes, based on the amplitudes squared by the squaring means.
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4. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an electrocardiograph which includes a plurality of electrodes adapted to be worn at a plurality of locations on the subject and which detects, through the electrodes, an electrocardiogram of the subject, wherein the aortic-valve-closing-timing determining means comprises means for iteratively determining, based on a prescribed point of each of respective first half portions of a plurality of T-waves of the electrocardiogram detected by the electrocardiograph, a start point of a corresponding one of a plurality of waveform-process intervals in each of which the aortic-valve-closing-timing determining means is to seek a timing when the aortic valve closes.
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5. A system for obtaining information relating to a propagation velocity at which a pulse wave propagates along an artery of a living subject, the system comprising:
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a heart-sound analyzing apparatus according to claim 1;
a pulse-wave detecting device which is adapted to be worn on the subject to detect the pulse wave which propagates along the artery of the subject; and
a pulse-wave-propagation-velocity-relating-information obtaining means for obtaining said information based on the timing when the aortic valve closes, determined by the aortic-valve-closing-timing determining means of the heart-sound analyzing apparatus, and a timing when a prescribed point of the pulse wave is detected by the pulse-wave detecting device.
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6. A system according to claim 5, wherein the pulse-wave-propagation-velocity-relating-information obtaining means comprises a pulse-wave-propagation-time determining means for determining, based on the timing when the aortic valve closes, and the timing when the prescribed point of the pulse wave is detected by the pulse-wave detecting device, a propagation time needed for the pulse wave to propagate from the aortic valve to a position where the pulse-wave detecting device is worn on the subject.
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7. A system according to claim 5, further comprising an output device which outputs the information obtained by the pulse-wave-propagation-velocity-relating-information obtaining means, so that an observer can see the output information.
Specification