Quantitative analysis of the phonocardiogram for dectection of murmurs

A method is proposed for quantification of the phonocardiogram (PCG) signal into two parameters representing time and frequency domain characteristics of the signal into two parameters representing time and frequency domain characteristics of the signal. For this purpose the energy curve and power spectrum of the signal are used. Results of application of the method to PCG signals of 8 normal and 39 pathological cases are presented. The study shows that the parameters of PCG signals with murmurs differ from those of normal signals and hence aid detection of murmurs. The algorithms involved are simple and a microprocessor-based automatic PCG analysis system using the proposed technique is being contemplated.