A Wearable Stethoscope for Long-Term Ambulatory Respiratory Health Monitoring

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Devices
• Acoustics

Background:

• Stethoscope-based lung sound analysis is crucial for respiratory disease diagnosis but limited by practitioner experience.
• User-dependency hinders digital transformation and continuous patient monitoring.
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for accessible respiratory monitoring systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an integrated sound acquisition module for respiratory monitoring.
• To minimize patient involvement in stethoscope use and pressure application.
• To create a wearable device for continuous, real-life thoracic sound capture.

Main Methods:

• Implemented a diaphragm-less acousto-electric transducer using silicone rubber and piezoelectric film.
• Integrated the transducer into a dedicated garment for ease of use.
• Benchmarked the device's performance against a clinical electronic stethoscope.

Main Results:

• The developed transducer captures thoracic sounds with minimal attenuation.
• The wearable module simplifies stethoscope positioning and pressure application.
• Performance benchmarking provides quantitative data on the device's efficacy.

Conclusions:

• The wearable sound acquisition module offers a user-friendly solution for respiratory monitoring.
• This technology can enhance the digital transformation of respiratory diagnostics.
• It holds potential for long-term monitoring of progressive respiratory diseases and pandemic response.