Mechanical vibrations induced by the heart of the foetus, together with other vibrations coming from the body of the pregnant mother, are sensed by the at least one electro-mechanical transformer placed on the body surface of the pregnant mother, the vibrations are transformed into electrical signals and processed. The electrical signals are pre-amplified, frequencies including the heart sound of the pregnant mother are removed from amplified electrical signals of the perceived vibrations by active bandpass filtering, the signal level reduction due to bandpass filtering is compensated for by amplification, and the filtered signal is transferred to a device for processing and evaluation. A device suitable for implementing the method, and a computer-readable medium are proposed, the latter comprising instructions to be run on the device, e.g. the smartphone, for processing the measured signals, displaying them visually, showing trends and making proposals to the user based on the processed signals.

Mechanical vibrations induced by the heart of the foetus, together with other vibrations coming from the body of the pregnant mother, are sensed by the at least one electro-mechanical transformer placed on the body surface of the pregnant mother, the vibrations are transformed into electrical signals and processed. The electrical signals are pre-amplified, frequencies including the heart sound of the pregnant mother are removed from amplified electrical signals of the perceived vibrations by active bandpass filtering, the signal level reduction due to bandpass filtering is compensated for by amplification, and the filtered signal is transferred to a device for processing and evaluation. A device suitable for implementing the method, and a computer-readable medium are proposed, the latter comprising instructions to be run on the device, e.g. the smartphone, for processing the measured signals, displaying them visually, showing trends and making proposals to the user based on the processed signals.

A method for assessment and/or monitoring a person's cardiovascular state comprises: using a sound and vibration transducer to acquire a vascular sound signal in order to detect a vascular sound from a cervical, thoracic, abdominal, pelvic, or lower limb region of the person; filtering the vascular sound signal to isolate the vascular sound, said filtering using a filter which attenuates frequencies below a lower cut-off frequency in a range of 100-300 Hz; and analyzing the filtered sound signal in order to determine whether an indication of a dicrotic notch in the vascular sound exceeds a set threshold.

A dispensing system is provided including a housing having a cavity, a first opening and a second opening, the openings being in communication with the cavity. First and second rollers are positioned within the cavity. A strip extends through the openings. The strip has a first end that is wound about the first roller and a second end that is wound about the second roller. A plurality of instrument covers are removably positioned on the strip. Methods of use and kits are disclosed.

A dispensing system is provided including a housing having a cavity, a first opening and a second opening, the openings being in communication with the cavity. First and second rollers are positioned within the cavity. A strip extends through the openings. The strip has a first end that is wound about the first roller and a second end that is wound about the second roller. A plurality of instrument covers are removably positioned on the strip. Methods of use and kits are disclosed.

The present invention provides a heart murmur detection device. The heart murmur detection device includes: an ECG signal detection unit for detecting an ECG signal from a heart of a user; a heart beat detection unit for detecting the frequency of the ECG signal; a plurality of sound receiving units for receiving a plurality of sound signals from the heart of the user; a signal transforming unit for transforming the sound signals into a plurality of electric phonic signals, and for retrieving the electric phonic signals on the basis of the ECG signal; and a signal processing unit for determining a heart murmur generating position. Moreover, the present invention further provides a heart murmur detection method.

Systems and methods are provided for extracting hemodynamic information, optionally employing portable electronic devices with optional User Interface (UI) features for system implementation. The systems and methods may be employed for acquiring hemodynamic signals and associated electrophysiological data and/or analyzing the former or both in combination to yield useful physiological indicia or results. Such hardware and software is advantageously used for non-invasively monitoring cardiac health.

Systems and methods are provided for extracting hemodynamic information, optionally employing portable electronic devices with optional User Interface (UI) features for system implementation. The systems and methods may be employed for acquiring hemodynamic signals and associated electrophysiological data and/or analyzing the former or both in combination to yield useful physiological indicia or results. Such hardware and software is advantageously used for non-invasively monitoring cardiac health.

Introduced here are electronic stethoscope systems designed to simultaneously monitor sounds originating from within a body under examination and the ambient environment. An electronic stethoscope system can include one or more input units that are connected to a hub unit. Each input unit may have at least one auscultation microphone and at least one ambient microphone. To improve the quality of sound recorded by an input unit, a processor can apply a noise cancellation algorithm that considers as input the audio data produced by the auscultation microphone(s) and the audio data produced by the ambient microphone(s). The audio data may be digitized directly in the input unit, and then transmitted to the hub unit for synchronization. For example, by examining the audio data produced by the ambient microphone(s), the processor may discover which digital artifacts, if any, should be filtered from the audio data produced by the auscultation microphone(s). The processor may reside within the input unit or the hub unit.

Introduced here are electronic stethoscope systems designed to simultaneously monitor sounds originating from within a body under examination and the ambient environment. An electronic stethoscope system can include one or more input units that are connected to a hub unit. Each input unit may have at least one auscultation microphone and at least one ambient microphone. To improve the quality of sound recorded by an input unit, a processor can apply a noise cancellation algorithm that considers as input the audio data produced by the auscultation microphone(s) and the audio data produced by the ambient microphone(s). The audio data may be digitized directly in the input unit, and then transmitted to the hub unit for synchronization. For example, by examining the audio data produced by the ambient microphone(s), the processor may discover which digital artifacts, if any, should be filtered from the audio data produced by the auscultation microphone(s). The processor may reside within the input unit or the hub unit.