SonicGuard Sensor-A Multichannel Acoustic Sensor for Long-Term Monitoring of Abdominal Sounds Examined through a...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Acoustics

Background:

• Auscultation is a key diagnostic method using bodily sounds.
• Digital stethoscopes and telehealth are driving the digitization of acoustic data.
• Machine learning analysis of bodily sounds is an emerging field.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate the SonicGuard sensor for long-term bodily sound recordings.
• To assess the sensor's performance, particularly for bowel sounds.
• To compare SonicGuard's capabilities with existing digital stethoscopes.

Main Methods:

• Development of a multichannel acoustic sensor (SonicGuard).
• Qualification testing including controlled environments, phantom measurements, and patient recordings.
• Focus on acoustic analysis of bowel sounds.

Main Results:

• SonicGuard demonstrated effectiveness in recording bodily sounds.
• Performance was comparable to commercially available digital stethoscopes.
• The sensor is suitable for various recording conditions, including patient data.

Conclusions:

• The SonicGuard sensor is a viable tool for long-term bodily sound acquisition.
• It supports the growing trend of digitizing auscultation data.
• Enables future collection and machine learning analysis of extensive bodily sound datasets.