Researchers from University of Pittsburgh have developed a novel low-cost system, Asclepius, to transform easily available earphones into a stethoscope, allowing clinicians to capture cardiac auscultation remotely.
Asclepius makes remote auscultation feasible for the first time, improving the quality of care to patients unable to access in-person clinics. By transforming the patient’s earphones into a stethoscope, acoustic cardiopulmonary signals can be collected from the patient’s ear canal and analyzed in real time, allowing specialists to make remote medical decisions with a high level of precision.
Indications
Tele/video medical consultations
Wearable medical technology
As a medical device in remote or rural locations for specialist assessment of patients prior to hospitalization.Advantages
During the COVID-19 pandemic, video medical visits were promoted as a safe method of accessing specialist care without the risk of exposure to the virus. While video visits can improve access to healthcare, they are less effective than in-person consultations; remote visits are limited to a visual and verbal assessment, with specialists unable to carry out vital health measures such as auscultations. While some in-home digital stethoscopes exist, they are costly and difficult to operate for elderly people.
Asclepius overcomes these obstacles by repurposing a patient’s earphones as a microphone. An easy to operate, cheap plug-in peripheral is simply attached to the earphones which is much more accessible than the current digital stethoscopes designed for at-home use. This microphone can detect phonocardiogram (PCG) signals from the patient’s ear canal. Using signal processing algorithms, the strong attenuation and multi-path effects that occur in PCG signals as it travels from the heart to the ear canals can be corrected to provide accurate and meaningful data for clinicians during video visits.Invention Readiness
A prototype of Asclepius has been developed and includes a hardware plugin (approximately $5) to turn the earphone speakers into a sensitive microphone. Signal processing accurately transforms PCGs collected from the ear canal to a meaningful output signal for the clinician, allowing for auscultation. Evaluation in 30 volunteers using 12 pairs of commercially available earphones and compared to clinically evaluated PCGs showed comparable levels of accuracy. Further evaluation and optimization to overcome signal interference and processing is required to commercially develop this medical device.Inventors:
Longfei Shangguan, PhD
Yongjie Yang
Tao Chen, PhD
