Title: A low-cost computerised electronic stethoscope with pre-diagnosis and easy transmission features

Authors: Roy Abi Zeid Daou; Katy Sadek; Michel Bou Karim; Paul Makhlouf

Addresses: Biomedical Technologies Department, Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese German University, Sahel Alma, Lebanon ' Biomedical Technologies Department, Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese German University, Sahel Alma, Lebanon ' Biomedical Technologies Department, Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese German University, Sahel Alma, Lebanon ' Biomedical Technologies Department, Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese German University, Sahel Alma, Lebanon

Abstract: Digital stethoscopes already exist in the market. However, their prices are not always affordable by many medical doctors and patients and most of them do not embed the telemedicine and/or the pre-diagnostic features. Thus, the proposed system presents a novel approach to record, save, process, analyse, diagnose and send data coming from the stethoscope to the healthcare professional that is not present near the patient. This low-cost system aims also to give a pre-diagnosis regarding his heart and/or his chest behaviours. The pre-diagnostic and the data processing are executed using LabView software. Some of the system features are to save the records of the patient and compare them over time, transmit the saved signal to the doctor's email or uploading them on the web, show the placement of the stethoscope sensors depending on the required reading, etc. Good results were obtained when comparing the exact values (using the conventional stethoscope) and the transmitted ones (file generated when recording the heart/lung signals). Added to that, the basic diagnoses given by the software were not far from the real ones. 60 persons were tested by three medical doctors and signals generated from the systems were almost the same as the exact signals. Thus, the proposed system could be bought by any patient or healthcare professional for its accurate results, easy handling, portability and telemedicine feature.

Keywords: digital stethoscopes; LabView; analogue filters; digital filters; healthcare technology; diagnosis phase; telemedicine; electronic stethoscopes; pre-diagnosis; remote monitoring; patient records; heart signals; lung signals; cardiac signals; portability; e-health; electronic healthcare.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2017.082227

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2017 Vol.23 No.1, pp.38 - 47

Received: 09 Dec 2015
Accepted: 03 Apr 2016
Published online: 13 Feb 2017 *

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