Systems and methods for tuning, analysis and display of heart sounds

Abstract

A tunable auscultation system includes a heart sound acquirer for sensing heart sounds from at least one chest location of the patient. An initial conditioner then conditions the heart sounds through pre-amplification and anti-aliasing. The heart sounds are transduced into electrical signals by a signal processor. The electric heart signals are then tuned by an analysis tool. The analysis tool includes an interaction tuner, a processing tuner and an output tuner. The interaction tuner includes a preset tuning selector and a dynamic range tuning selector. The processing tuner includes a band pass filter and an algorithmic extraction engine which applies extraction algorithms to the electric heart signals, segments them and extracts signals of interest. Signals of interest may be correlated to specific pathologies. The output tuner includes a signal strength indicator, a diagnosis indicator, an overlapping cardiac cycle display and a display configuration engine. A display module provides output.

1 . A method for tuning and displaying heart sounds of a patient, the method comprising:
 sensing heart sounds from at least one chest location of the patient;   transducing the heart sounds into electrical signals;   tuning the electric heart signals, wherein the tuning of the electric heart signals includes extracting useful pathology information; and   displaying at least one of the electrical heart signals, the tuned electric heart signals and the extracted pathology information.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein tuning the electric heart signals includes filtering frequencies of the electrical signals. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising conditioning the heart sounds, and wherein the conditioning of the heart sounds includes pre-amplifying the electric heart sounds and anti-aliasing the heart sounds, and wherein conditioning of the heart sounds includes noise reduction. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein tuning the electric heart signals includes at least one of interaction tuning, processing tuning and output tuning. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein interaction tuning includes at least one of selecting preset tuning and selecting dynamic range tuning. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein processing tuning includes at least one of band pass filtering and information extracting. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the information extracting includes applying extraction algorithms to the conditioned electric heart signals, segmenting the conditioned electric heart signals, and extracting signals of interest. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the extracted signals of interest are correlated to the pathology information. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein output tuning includes at least one of indicating signal strength, indicating diagnosis, displaying overlapping cardiac cycle and configuring display. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the indicating diagnosis utilizes the pathology information. 
   
   
       11 . A tunable auscultation system useful in association with a patient, the system comprising:
 a heart sound acquirer configured to sense heart sounds from at least one chest location of the patient;   a signal processor configured to transduce the heart sounds into electrical signals;   an analyzer configured to tune the electric heart signals, wherein the tuning of the electric heart signals includes extracting useful pathology information; and   a display module configured to display at least one of the conditioned electrical heart signals, the tuned electric heart signals and the extracted pathology information.   
   
   
       12 . The tunable auscultation system of  claim 11  wherein the analysis tool is configured to filter frequencies of the electrical signals. 
   
   
       13 . The tunable auscultation system of  claim 11  further comprising an initial conditioner configured to condition the heart sounds, and wherein the initial conditioner includes a pre-amplifier configured to pre-amplify the heart sounds and an anti-aliasing filter configured to anti-alias the heart sounds, and wherein the initial conditioner performs noise reduction. 
   
   
       14 . The tunable auscultation system of  claim 11  wherein the analysis tool includes at least one of an interaction tuner, a processing tuner and an output tuner. 
   
   
       15 . The tunable auscultation system of  claim 14  wherein the interaction tuner includes at least one of a preset tuning selector and a dynamic range tuning selector. 
   
   
       16 . The tunable auscultation system of  claim 14  wherein the processing tuner includes at least one of a band pass filter and an algorithmic extraction engine. 
   
   
       17 . The tunable auscultation system of  claim 16  wherein the algorithmic extraction engine is configured to apply extraction algorithms to the electric heart signals, segment the electric heart signals, and extract signals of interest. 
   
   
       18 . The tunable auscultation system of  claim 16  wherein the algorithmic extraction engine is further configured to correlate the extracted signals of interest to the pathology information. 
   
   
       19 . The tunable auscultation system of  claim 18  wherein the output tuner includes at least one of a signal strength indicator, a diagnosis indicator, an overlapping cardiac cycle display and a display configuration engine. 
   
   
       20 . The tunable auscultation system of  claim 14  wherein the diagnosis indicator utilizes the pathology information. 
   
   
       21 . A method for diagnosing and displaying heart related pathologies of a patient, the method comprising:
 sensing heart sounds from at least one chest location of the patient;   transducing the heart sounds into electrical signals;   receiving user pathology selection;   selectively filtering the electrical signal for pathological markers, wherein the selective filtering utilizes the user pathology selection;   generating a diagnosis by analyzing the pathological markers; and   displaying the diagnosis.