Electronic stethoscope
First Claim
1. An electronic digital stethoscope comprising a single vibration transducer for creating a single channel input signal, an amplifier, a headphone arrangement, a pre-emphasis filter means for emphasizing high frequencies, and at least one digital filter means for establishing at least one impulse transfer function corresponding to at least one acoustic stethoscope type;
- wherein said pre-emphasis means comprises a high-pass shelving filter for increasing amplification prior to establishment of the at least one impulse transfer function by said at least one digital filter means, said shelving filter having a shelving limit at about 3,000 Hz.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic stethoscope having a vibration transducer, an amplifier, a headphone arrangement, and at least one digital filter for establishing at least one impulse transfer function corresponding to at least one acoustic stethoscope type. Thus, the signals heard will correspond to those learned, and thereby the advantages of greater amplification and elimination of noise sources may be fully utilized. The ability to compensate for an individual doctor'"'"'s hearing loss is enabled. Furthermore, with stereoscopic embodiments, sound frequency distributions can be transformed to spatial or temporal sound distributions perceivable by the user facilitating, for example, the detection of heart murmurs and the taking of blood pressure.
42 Citations
18 Claims
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1. An electronic digital stethoscope comprising a single vibration transducer for creating a single channel input signal, an amplifier, a headphone arrangement, a pre-emphasis filter means for emphasizing high frequencies, and at least one digital filter means for establishing at least one impulse transfer function corresponding to at least one acoustic stethoscope type;
- wherein said pre-emphasis means comprises a high-pass shelving filter for increasing amplification prior to establishment of the at least one impulse transfer function by said at least one digital filter means, said shelving filter having a shelving limit at about 3,000 Hz.
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An electronic digital stethoscope comprising a vibration transducer, an amplifier, a headphone arrangement, a pre-emphasis filter means for emphasizing high frequencies, and at least one digital filter means for establishing at least one impulse transfer function corresponding to at least one acoustic stethoscope type;
- further comprising means for performing a comparison between the unfiltered linear sound and the sound after digital filtering.
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6. An electronic digital stethoscope comprising a vibration transducer, an amplifier, a headphone arrangement, a pre-emphasis filter means for emphasizing high frequencies up to about 3,000 Hz, and at least one digital filter means for establishing at least one impulse transfer function corresponding to at least one acoustic stethoscope type;
- wherein multiple sets of coefficients for producing multiple impulse transfer functions corresponding to multiple acoustic stethoscope types are stored in conjunction with the digital filter.
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7. An electronic digital stethoscope comprising a vibration transducer, an amplifier, a headphone arrangement, a pre-emphasis filter means for emphasizing high frequencies, and at least one digital filter means for establishing at least one impulse transfer function corresponding to at least one acoustic stethoscope type and being located for receiving a signal after it has been processed by said pre-emphasis filter means;
- wherein said pre-emphasis means is operative for increasing amplification, wherein the at least one impulse transfer function of the digital filter means is obtained by measurement on a specific acoustic stethoscope type, the type categorized other than by noise reduction.
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8. An electronic digital stethoscope comprising a single vibration transducer for creating a single channel input signal, an amplifier, a headphone arrangement, a pre-emphasis filter means for emphasizing high frequencies of said single channel input signal, and at least one digital filter means for establishing at least one impulse transfer function corresponding to at least one acoustic stethoscope type;
- wherein said pre-emphasis means is operative for increasing amplification, further comprising digital pattern recognition means for windowing the acoustic signal to adaptively remove noise from the surroundings and suppress repetitive signals in the observed signal.
- View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. An electronic digital stethoscope comprising a vibration transducer, an amplifier, a headphone arrangement, a pre-emphasis filter means for emphasizing high frequencies by increasing amplification, and at least one digital filter means for establishing at least one impulse transfer function corresponding to at least one acoustic stethoscope type;
- wherein said pre-emphasis filter is located in the signal path before said at least one digital filter means, and for pre-emphasis of the high frequencies, acts in dependence of the thickness of tissue which is present between an actual sound source and the transducer.
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11. An electronic digital stethoscope comprising a vibration transducer, an amplifier, a headphone arrangement, a pre-emphasis filter means for emphasizing high frequencies, and at least one digital filter means for establishing at least one impulse transfer function corresponding to at least one acoustic stethoscope type;
- further comprising signal processing means for producing a sound distribution to the headphone in which different sound signals are sent to each of left and right ears of a user.
- View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
Specification