System and method for acquisition and analysis of physiological auditory signals

• US 20070282174A1
• Filed: 11/20/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audio Evolution Diagnostics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Michael Sabatino
• Inventors: Sabatino, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,920,343 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0022 Monitoring a patient using a global network, e.g. telephone networks, internet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7257 using Fourier transforms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/00 Instruments for auscultation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/04 Electric stethoscopes microphones, acoustic transducers therefor H04R

Abstract

A diagnostic system for collecting, processing, recording and analyzing sounds associated with the physiologic activities of various human organs. The system includes a plurality of transducers placed on the body surface at the operator'"'"'s discretion. The microphones are coupled to analogue/digital signal processing circuitry for enhancement of the desired signal and exclusion of ambient noise. An A/D converter digitizes the incoming data and transmits data, which is divided into a multitude of discrete blocks, received over very finite intervals of time, to a computer workstation and moved through an analysis program sequentially. The program is displayed as a series of icons which depict operations that the program performs and which allow the operator to reprogram the system at any time. The data is finally displayed in graphical format and stored in memory as the program processes each block sequentially.

Claims

1. A diagnostic system for use in acquiring, storing and analyzing physiologic sounds during a time interval desired by an operator comprising:

at least one transducer which detects a set of physiological sound outputs produced by a subject,

wherein said at least one transducer is placed around one or more desired anatomic sites on said subject;

means for converting said set of physiologic sound outputs into electrical signals;

means for amplification of said electrical signals;

means for grouping said electrical signals into desired electrical signals and undesired electrical signals by using analogue circuits for high pass and low pass filtering;

means for converting said desired electrical signals back into audio signals so that the operator may listen to a representation of the sound detected by the transducers in real time after amplification and filtering; and

means for converting said desired electrical signals into a stream of digital data that can be received and output by a computer workstation.

2. The diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein said at least one transducer comprises a plurality of transducers.

3. The diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein high voltage AC is converted into high voltage DC and supplied to said plurality of transducers equally via a set of two separate inputs and wherein an output signal of said plurality of transducers is transmitted through a same set of electrical lines that supply an input voltage and wherein a phantom power supply may be provided to said plurality of transducers via a microphone pre-amplifier, alkaline, lithium-ion or other rechargeable battery.

4. The diagnostic system of claim 1 wherein said electrical signals are transmitted to a digital signal processor containing a test microphone and memory system disposed for storing and displaying a set of digital sound signals received from an ambient environment and a set of other organs not under analysis, wherein the output data of said digital signal processor may be transmitted to a computer workstation by way of cable or wireless network for further analysis and wherein said computer workstation comprises a means for elimination of undesired noise from the desired signal.

5. The diagnostic system of claim 4 wherein information regarding the operations performed in processing the incoming audio signal are displayed via LCD and comprising means for saving said operations in memory for instantaneous recall by the operator at a later time.

6. The diagnostic system of claim 4 wherein said digital signal processor attenuates a set of frequencies within said transmitted set of digital sound signals which possess intensities that are either below or above a pre-determined intensity threshold, defined as compression or expansion.

7. The diagnostic system of claim 6 wherein individual frequency bands of said digital signal processor, may be selected for amplification or attenuation, wherein said digital signal processor contains narrow band filters for destruction of acoustic feedback function and wherein said digital signal processor functions as a device selected from the group consisting of graphic, parametric, digital and dynamic equalizer.

8. The diagnostic system of claim 7 wherein said root-mean-square of undesired ambient noise received by a test microphone is displayed by said digital signal processor in real time.

9. The diagnostic system of claim 8 wherein upon entering said system, a set of digital signals is divided into a plurality of blocks, of which an individual block represents a small portion of said incoming digital signal over a finite time interval determined by the operator.

10. The diagnostic system of claim 9 wherein said individual blocks are acted upon sequentially by an analysis program.

11. The diagnostic system of claim 10 wherein a set of results of said analysis program is illustrated on a monitor by a series of interconnected icons, selectable by use of a mouse or a keyboard and wherein different frequency bands within an incoming digital signal may be processed simultaneously.

12. The diagnostic system of claim 9 wherein a system sampling rate can be chosen.

13. The diagnostic system of claim 9 wherein a desired block length can be chosen.

14. The diagnostic system of claim 9 wherein a degree of overlap between succeeding of said plurality of blocks of data can be determined.

15. The diagnostic system of claim 9 wherein a type of mathematical window to apply to incoming data can be chosen, prior to calculation of a power spectrum density.

16. The diagnostic system of claim 15 wherein said power spectrum density of a portion of a signal contained in said individual blocks can be calculated sequentially using a fast fourier transformation or other form of mathematical analysis and presented in a set of graphical displays such as a Power vs. Frequency plot.

17. The diagnostic system of claim 16 wherein frequency ranges of said calculated power spectrum densities are excluded prior to further analysis using a digital filter mechanism or trigger function.

18. The diagnostic system of claim 17 wherein for portions of the incoming data that were not excluded prior to further analysis said analysis program determines the root-mean-square value sequentially from the portion of the signal represented in said blocks or over a series composed of an arbitrary number of said individual blocks as selected by the operator.

19. The diagnostic system of claim 18 wherein said root-mean-square values are displayed sequentially in a columnar format and is transferred to at least one separate analysis programs which may incorporate additional data selected from the group consisting of patient demographics, background noise, results from additional laboratory, imaging and physical exam tests in order to provide quantitative measurements relating to the degree of functionality and presence of pathology in the target organ system.

20. The diagnostic system of claim 19 wherein said at least one separate analysis programs may also possess means to characterize changes in RMS values with respect to time and wherein said at least one separate analysis program is combined with a set of additional clinical information in order to prediction a degree of functionality of an investigated organ system for a time period.

21. The diagnostic system of claim 20 wherein the frequency of maximum intensity can be determined by said analysis program for each said blocks on all portions not excluded prior to further analysis.

22. The diagnostic system of claim 16 wherein a set of application programs and said set of graphical displays is permanently stored in the random access memory of computer workstation.

23. The diagnostic system of claim 10 wherein digital high pass/flow pass filtering is performed by selecting a Filter icon prior to Fast Fourier Transfer calculation.

24. The diagnostic system of claim 16 further comprising a printer coupled to said computer wherein said analysis program is configured to print said graphical display on paper.

25. The diagnostic system of claim 16 further comprising a modem coupled to said computer wherein said analysis program may transmit information contained in said graphical displays to a set of computer workstations via a world wide web network connection.

26. The diagnostic system of claim 16 wherein data stored in a RAM may be copied to magnetic disk or compact disc.

27. The diagnostic system of claim 16 further comprising means for displaying an intensity of said signal contained in each block as an arbitrarily expandable or contractible time domain plot.

28. The diagnostic system of claim 16 wherein said axis scale of said graphical displays are chosen arbitrarily such as through a zoom function.

29. The diagnostic system of claim 9 further comprising a means for initiating or terminating a digital recording of said set of digital signals by selecting a user interactive screen button.

30. The diagnostic system of claim 20 further comprising means for combining numerical/textual elements of an electronic medical record with data obtained form the analysis program under the direction of an operator using a peripheral input device connected to said computer workstation for import of data into additional programs for further analysis which may be selected from a group comprising degree of target organ functionality at present time, characterization of pathological process(s) (if present), and near-future prognostic predictions regarding the target organ system.

31. A diagnostic system for use in acquiring, storing and analyzing physiologic sounds during a time interval desired by an operator comprising:

at least one transducer which detects a set of physiological sound outputs produced by a subject, wherein said at least one transducer is placed around one or more desired anatomic sites on said subject;

means for converting said set of physiologic sound outputs into electrical signals;

means for amplification of said electrical signals;

means for grouping said electrical signals into desired electrical signals and undesired electrical signals by using analogue circuits for high pass and low pass filtering;

means for converting said desired electrical signals back into audio signals so that the operator may listen to a representation of the sound detected by the transducers in real time after amplification and filtering; and

,

means for converting said desired electrical signals into a stream of digital data that can be received and output by a computer workstation; and

, wherein an amount of time elapsed prior to termination of recording can be determined by selecting a user interactive screen button Stop icon and inputting a desired duration of recording via keyboard.

32. A diagnostic system for use in acquiring, storing and analyzing physiologic sounds during a time interval desired by an operator comprising:

at least one transducer which detects a set of physiological sound outputs produced by a subject, wherein said at least one transducer, which may be a condenser microphone with balanced XLR input/output, is placed around one or more desired anatomic sites on said subject;

means for converting said set of physiologic sound outputs into electrical signals;

means for amplification of said electrical signals;

means for grouping said electrical signals into desired electrical signals and undesired electrical signals by using a set of analogue circuitry and digital signal processor settings for high pass and low pass filtering;

means for converting said desired electrical signals back into audio signals so that the operator may listen to a representation of the sound detected by the transducers in real time after amplification and filtering;

means for converting said desired electrical signals into a stream of digital data that can be received and output by a digital signal processor wherein at least one set of operations allow transmittal of physiologic sounds to an operator in a manner which is indistinct in comparison to a conventional acoustic stethoscope from the prospective of said operator;

means for storing said at least one set of operations in digital memory for instantaneous recall by the operator;

means for configuring a set of analogue amplifier, analogue filter and digital signal processor settings to optimize transmission of physiologic sounds from the group consisting of lungs, trachea, heart, heart murmurs, bowels, blood pressure measurements, bruits, and peripheral pulses;

means for correlating the transmitted electronic representations of said physiologic sounds with a set of corresponding representations obtained from an acoustic non-electronic stethoscope; and

,

means for configuring said set of analogue circuitry and digital signal processor settings to optimize measurement of functions from the group consisting of blood pressure, trachea/lung sounds, cardiac function and cardiac murmurs;

means for configuring said set of analogue circuitry and digital signal processor settings to optimize assessment peripheral pulses and bowel sounds such as obstruction or ileus;

means for configuring said analogue circuitry and digital signal processor settings to optimize grading the severity of bruits;

means for configuring said analogue circuitry and digital signal processor settings to optimize assessment the functionality/location of foreign bodies within the patient which includes the group consisting of endotracheal tube, feeding tubes, catheters, pacemakers, and central/peripheral lines, shunts and stents.