- Researchers evaluated the feasibility of recording heart sounds using a smartphone’s built-in microphone by investigating the quality of heart sounds recorded by smartphones and the factors that affect the quality of the recordings.
- Overall, 3 out of 4 recordings were of high quality, meaning they could be further processed to obtain medically relevant data.
- The results show that heart sound quality is not affected by phone version or user’s biological sex, but users over 60 appeared to have lower recording quality.
- This research paves the way for a future where individuals, especially those with heart problems, can easily record their own heart sounds at home, improving the diagnostic process.
We are all familiar with the “rub dab… rub dab” sound that the heart makes. The reason the heart makes these sounds has to do with the heart’s ability to circulate blood throughout the body.
The myocardium pumps blood through repeated contraction and relaxation. While the heart is contracting we hear a “lub” sound known as the first heart sound S1, and while the heart is relaxing we hear a “dub” sound, his second heart sound S2. Listen.
The traditional tool doctors use to listen to heart sounds is the stethoscope.
Heart sounds can be useful markers of heart failure, but are currently being evaluated only in clinical settings. It is convenient for patients to be able to record their own heart sounds while they are at home.
One easy way for individuals to capture heart sounds in the comfort of their own home is by using a smart phone with a built-in high-quality microphone. To date, several prototypes of mobile apps for recording heart sounds have been developed and made available to the public.
Researchers from King’s College London in the UK and Maastricht University in the Netherlands are now investigating the feasibility of using a smartphone as a stethoscope and assessing potential factors that affect the quality of heart sound recordings. was carried out.
“This study proves that mobile technology is a viable way to record heart sounds, and that in the future, heart sounds can be confirmed by heart patients and physicians using at-home recordings. [the] Co-author of the paper, Dr. Pablo Lamata, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, said:
The results of this study were European Heart Journal – Digital Health.
Working with heart patients through the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and Evelina Children’s Heart Organization (ECHO), and working with experts at Cellule Design Studio, researchers developed a smartphone application that measures heart sounds.
To use the Echoes app, simply place your smartphone on your chest and press “Record”. The application has a signal processing algorithm that filters heart sound recordings to remove background noise.
The Echoes App asks users to voluntarily provide anonymous basic demographic information, such as age, gender, height, weight, and, if applicable, heart condition.
Between May 21st and October 4th, 2021, 1,148 people downloaded the Echoes app, made 7,597 heartbeat recordings, and uploaded them to the Google Firebase database.
Researchers found that 8 out of 10 (80%) users were able to record high-quality heart sounds. A “high quality” recording is one that can be interpreted for analysis.
Overall, 3 out of 4 (75%) recordings could be further processed to yield medically relevant data.
The researchers then examined factors that affect the quality of heart sound recordings for these users. They found that the following factors did not affect recording quality:
- phone version
- User’s biological sex.
However, researchers noticed poor recording quality for users over the age of 60.
Dr. Hongxing Luo, co-author and postdoctoral researcher at Maastricht University, argued during his doctoral dissertation hearing that the problem of poor heart sound recordings by older users could be overcome.
One of the simplest solutions is to instruct the user to listen to the heart sounds using earphones while looking for the location where the heart sounds are loudest.
Hospitals already have echocardiograms (ECGs) and
- heart failure patient
- Postoperative follow-up of patients with valvular heart disease
- Postoperative follow-up of patients with arrhythmia.
Dr. Lamata described the Echoes app as “a tool that empowers patients.”[s] to manage one’s condition. “
Dr. James Leiper, Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Glasgow and Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said:
“As we enter the age of digital medicine, technology like Echoes has the potential to revolutionize heart disease diagnosis and at-home monitoring. However, if this development is successful, it could be an important step towards the ready availability of cardiac monitoring tools.”
Dr. Dominik Linz, professor of circulatory, renal, and pulmonary physiology at the University of Copenhagen, pointed out that it is important for researchers to identify a “specific threshold.” [heart sound measurements] It should lead to action by cardiologists evaluating patient data via the Echoes app.
One of the study’s limitations was that the Echoes app was only available for iPhone users, so we excluded Android users, who account for more than half of all smartphone users.
When asked if the Echoes app will be available to the public, Dr. Pablo Lamata said: medical news today: “We are currently planning the next release, which will also include an Android version by May next year.”
The Echoes app currently only detects S1 and S2 heart sounds. “The usefulness of recognizing pathological heart sounds, including S3, S4 and murmurs, should be investigated in future studies in patients,” the researchers commented.
The researchers also noted that the population studied may not truly reflect the general population, “because smartphone users are likely to be younger and more educated.” also mentioned. Further studies are needed to assess the reproducibility of these results.
