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Embedded Stethoscope: International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Embedded Stethoscope: International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2013)
Embedded Stethoscope
Mihir Vaidya1, Snehal Mhatre2, Madhuri Ware3, Pratik Pradhan4
1
mihirvaidya18@gmail.com
2
snehalm512@gmail.com
3
waremadhuri@gmail.com
4
pratikpradhan27690@yahoo.com
Abstract A stethoscope is an instrument used for The front end circuit consists of an amplifier which
auscultations to convey heart sounds as well sounds in the amplifies the sounds of the body making them easier to
other parts of the body. However, traditional stethoscopes hear. This type of stethoscopes have an noise filter, which
are restricted only to audio representation of such sounds blocks unwanted surrounding noise and passes only
and the diagnosis depends on the expertise of the doctor. This
appropriate sounds. Noise filter selects only specific
project is an attempt to develop an Embedded Stethoscope to
capture heart sounds which offers better noise cancellation, sounds and adjusts higher and lowers frequencies. This
signal amplification and also added functionalities like will be ideal choice for an environment which
storage, analysis and visual representation of sound signals. overcrowded by lots of patients creating unwanted noise.
The proposed system consists of amplifier followed by a filter
for removing undesired frequencies. It is then amplified II. HEART S OUNDS AND HEART MURMURS
using power amplifier and this analog signal is converted to
digital using the C2000 High Performance 32 bit
microcontroller. For visual representation, heart sounds will
An important diagnostic tool is the analysis of the
then be displayed on graphic LCD and also stored on heart sounds normally produced by various mechanical
embedded flash memory of the controller. Hence we aim at activities of the heart during the heart cycle. Heart sounds
developing a prototype which offers a low power replacement are caused by variation of pressure of blood flowing inside
to the traditional stethoscope which will aid physicians as an heart through various veins and due to opening and closing
effective diagnostic tool. of valves. The two normal sounds of heart are the first
(also known as Lub or S1) and the second (also known as
Keywords: - Digital Stethoscope, C2000, Heart Sounds, Dub or S2). There also exist two extra heart sounds known
Bio Medical. as third and fourth sounds. The first sound occurs
primarily because of closing of bicuspid and tricuspid
I. INTRODUCTION valves. The closing of valves occur due to contraction of
ventricles. This marks the onset of systole. It causes
The stethoscope is a medical device for listening to
pulmonic and aortic valves to open and the blood is forced
internal sounds such as heart sounds and lung sounds.
into arteries. The first sound occurs in the frequency range
Using a stethoscope, the doctor can hear normal and
of 30 Hz - 45 Hz. The second sound caused due to closure
abnormal respiratory, cardiac, pleural, arterial sounds.
of the semilunar valves (the aortic valve and pulmonary
Stethoscopes are of two types acoustic and digital. The
valve). The closing of semilunar valves occur as the
current practice among physicians is to use an acoustic
pressure in the arteries is greater than pressure in
stethoscope. This technique is very subjective because the
ventricles. This marks the end of systole i.e. beginning of
records provided could be interpreted in several ways
diastole and it occurs at frequency range of 50Hz 70Hz
depending on how the physician interprets the sounds [2].
with high pitch. The third sound occurs after S2 i.e. at the
A digital stethoscope on the other hand has digital noise
beginning of diastole. It is usually heard in young adults,
filters to remove environmental noise and display proper
children and sometimes during pregnancy but if it occurs
heart sounds and murmurs. The digital stethoscope can be
in later adult life then it is considered to be an abnormal
interfaced with computers using modern technologies and
heart sound. The third heart sound is caused by vibration
makes possible the storage and proper analysis of the
of the ventricular walls. It is caused by sudden rush of
recorded sounds. Thus a digital stethoscope has many
blood from arties to ventricles. The third heart sound is
advantages over the traditionally used acoustic
low in frequency (about 30Hz or below) and low intensity.
stethoscopes. The design discussed in the paper consists of
The fourth sound occurs just after atrial contraction at the
a front end circuit to capture the heart sounds, a
end of diastole and immediately before S1. The fourth
microcontroller to process the heart sounds and graphic
sound is also low in frequency and intensity. Thus, the
LCD for display.
heart sound information can be related as follows:[2]
382
International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2013)
First sound mitral valve closure and tricuspid valve Microcontroller: The microcontroller used in the system
closure belongs to the C2000 Piccolo microcontroller family. The
controller used is the C2000 TMSF28027x. It is a high
Second sound aortic and pulmonary valves closure performance microcontroller with a 32 bit processor. It has
a 12 bit ADC and 32 kB Flash memory. The use of this
controller makes it possible to get real time digital values
Third sound termination of ventricular filling
of the input analog signal and enable storage of waveforms
without the use of external memory. The Code Composed
Fourth sound atria contract Studio is used as a IDE for the C2000 controller.
III. S YSTEM ARCHITECTURE Graphic LCD: Graphic LCD is used for visual
A. System Overview representation of heart sounds as it can display pixels and
The proposed system contains a microphone not just characters which will aid physicians for proper
embedded in a chest piece which acts as a transducer to diagnosis. A serial Graphic LCD will be used which has
acquire the heart signals. The captured signal is then excellent monochrome display along with LED backlight
processed through a highly precise amplifier and a low and SPI interface.
pass filter. The processed signal is then connected to a
high performance microcontroller which has an inbuilt IV. IMPLEMENTATION
Analog to Digital convertor. The digital output is then
plotted on a graphic LCD. The system block diagram is as A. Front End Pick Up Circuit
shown below:
The following circuits are simulated using proteus:
Microphone
383
International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 2, February 2013)
Figure 7: ADC code algorithm Figure 11: Simulation output of Variable Gain Amplifier
REFERENCES
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