Electronic stethoscope

Abstract

To provide an electronic stethoscope capable of acquiring a biological sound while the chest piece of an electronic stethoscope is in contact with an object of stethoscopy, with an appropriate pressure.SOLUTION: The electronic stethoscope comprises: a sound collecting part 10 for acquiring a biological sound with a microphone 1; and a supporting part 20 of the sound collecting part 10. The sound collecting part 10 includes a pressure sensor 7 for detecting a pressure in contact with the object of stethoscopy. The supporting part 20 includes an adhesive member 6 adhering to the object of stethoscopy and is configured to move the sound collecting part 10 in a direction of protruding toward the object of stethoscopy or in a direction opposite to it and support the sound collecting part 10 so as to be fixable at a position after the movement.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an electronic stethoscope, and more particularly to an electronic stethoscope that allows even a person unfamiliar with using an electronic stethoscope to acquire biological sounds while the chestpiece is in contact with the subject to be auscultated with an appropriate contact pressure. [Background technology]

[0002] In remote medical care, patients (auscultation subjects) and their family members who are not familiar with using stethoscopes may use an electronic stethoscope to obtain vital sounds such as heart sounds, and then transmit the processed vital sound signals from the patient's information and communications terminal to the doctor's information and communications terminal connected via the Internet, etc., and receive a medical examination from the doctor.

[0003] However, when a person who is not familiar with using an electronic stethoscope acquires vital sounds, noises such as vibrations from the hand holding the chest piece of the electronic stethoscope and rustling noises caused by the patient moving are mixed into the acquired vital sounds.

[0004] As a method for enabling auscultation without holding the stethoscope, a stethoscope in which a chest pad is fixed to a patient by a suction cup has been disclosed (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Utility Model Registration No. 3222551 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Previously proposed stethoscopes could be fixed to the subject without holding the stethoscope, but the contact pressure between the stethoscope's diaphragm and the subject's body surface could not be adjusted. As a result, if the contact pressure was too low, the signal level of the biological sound was too low and the biological sound could not be detected. On the other hand, if the contact pressure was too high, the biological sound signal converted from the biological sound was distorted and noise increased. Therefore, there was a problem in that the desired biological sound signal could not be obtained unless the contact pressure between the stethoscope's diaphragm and the subject was appropriate.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic stethoscope that can acquire body sounds while the chest piece of the electronic stethoscope is in contact with the subject to be auscultated with an appropriate pressure. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The electronic stethoscope of the present invention is an electronic stethoscope comprising a sound collection unit that acquires biological sounds using a microphone and a support unit for the sound collection unit, wherein the sound collection unit is equipped with a pressure sensor that detects the pressure of contact with the auscultation target, and the support unit is equipped with an adhesive unit that adheres to the auscultation target, and is configured to move the sound collection unit in a direction that protrudes toward the auscultation target or in the opposite direction, and to support the sound collection unit so that it can be fixed in the moved position. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the electronic stethoscope of the present invention, the sound collecting section of the chestpiece comes into contact with the subject to be auscultated at a pressure suitable for acquiring biological sounds, and biological sounds can be acquired at an appropriate signal level. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an electronic stethoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention, illustrating the structure of the electronic stethoscope. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an electronic stethoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention, illustrating signal processing of the electronic stethoscope. [Figure 3]10A and 10B are diagrams illustrating biological sound signals output when an electronic stethoscope is brought into contact with an auscultation target with varying contact pressures. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] The electronic stethoscope of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the members, materials, etc. described below can be modified in various ways within the scope of the spirit of the present invention. Furthermore, the same reference numerals in the drawings indicate equivalent or identical items, and the size and positional relationship between each component are for convenience only and do not reflect the actual situation.

[0012] (Embodiment) Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the electronic stethoscope of the present invention, in which (a) is a schematic cross-sectional view of the chest piece of the electronic stethoscope, and (b) is a schematic plan view of the contact surface of the chest piece that comes into contact with the contact object. Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the electronic stethoscope of the present invention, and is a diagram explaining signal processing of the electronic stethoscope.

[0013] The chestpiece 100 of the electronic stethoscope according to this embodiment shown in FIG. 1(a) is provided with a sound collection unit 10 having a microphone 1 therein, and a support unit 20 that supports the sound collection unit 10.

[0014] The sound collection unit 10 has a sound collection space 2 connected to a microphone 1. When the sound collection unit 10 comes into contact with the auscultation target, body sounds are transmitted to the sound collection space 2 via a membrane 3 covering the sound collection space 2, and the microphone 1 converts the sounds into an electrical signal. This electrical signal is processed by a signal processing device 5 located in the rear chamber 4 and output as a body sound signal to an earpiece, earphone, headphone, speaker, information communication terminal for remote medical care, etc. (not shown), so that a doctor can make a diagnosis. The signal processing by the signal processing device 5 involves a body sound signal generation unit 51 in the signal processing device 5 shown in FIG. 2 filtering and amplifying the electrical signal based on the body sounds acquired by the microphone 1 to convert it into a body sound signal. The converted body sound signal is output to an output unit 30 such as an earpiece. The body sound signal output from the signal processing device 5 to the output unit 30 can be transmitted via wire or wirelessly.

[0015] When the microphone 1 is configured with a capacitive MEMS transducer, the pressure in the sound collection space 2 changes as the membrane 3 vibrates, and the change in capacitance is detected by the MEMS transducer and converted into a biological sound signal through signal processing. The microphone 1 is not limited to a capacitive MEMS transducer, and a piezoelectric element, an electric condenser microphone, etc. can also be used.

[0016] When a person unfamiliar with using an electronic stethoscope brings the chestpiece 100 into contact with the subject of auscultation, they may not be able to apply an appropriate contact pressure or maintain a constant contact pressure during auscultation. If the pressure at which the chestpiece 100 is pressed against the subject of auscultation is not appropriate, the desired biological sound signal cannot be obtained, which is undesirable.

[0017] Therefore, the electronic stethoscope of this embodiment is equipped with a support part 20 for adhering the sound collection part 10 to the auscultation target and for fixing the sound collection part 10 by moving the position of the sound collection part 10 in the direction of protruding it toward the auscultation target or in the opposite direction, so that even a person who is not familiar with using it can bring the chest piece 10 into contact with the auscultation target with an appropriate contact pressure.

[0018] The support part 20 has an adhesive member 6, such as an adhesive sticker, disposed on the surface that comes into contact with the auscultation target as an adhesive part. In the example shown in FIG. 1(b), the adhesive member 6 is made of doughnut-shaped adhesive tape and disposed on the surface that comes into contact with the auscultation target. The adhesive member 6 can also be adhesive tape divided into multiple pieces. Instead of adhesive tape, for example, a structure equipped with a general suction cup can be used, or a space can be formed inside the support part 20, and this space can be made to function as a suction cup by creating a negative pressure in this space. By appropriately selecting the adhesive part, the support part 20 can be adhered to the auscultation target with a constant adhesive force according to the type of adhesive part, even when the chestpiece 100 of the electronic stethoscope is not being touched.

[0019] The support part 20 supports the sound collection part 10 so that it can be moved in a direction that protrudes it toward the auscultation target or in the opposite direction, and can fix the sound collection part 10 in the moved position. By moving the position of the sound collection part 10, the contact pressure between the sound collection part 10 and the auscultation target can be adjusted.

[0020] As an example, a screw portion 8A is formed in the sound collection unit 10 shown in Figure 1(a), and a screw hole 8B is formed in the support unit 20 so as to engage with this screw portion 8A. The sound collection unit 10 is supported on the support unit 20 by the engagement portion 8 formed by this screw portion 8A and screw hole 8B.

[0021] As shown in Figure 1(b), the contact surface of sound collecting unit 10 with the auscultation target is circular, and when turntable 9 attached to sound collecting unit 10 is rotated, screw portion 8A rotates, and depending on the direction of rotation, sound collecting unit 10 can be moved in a direction that protrudes toward the auscultation target, or in the opposite direction, away from the auscultation target and into sound collecting unit 10. As a result, the contact pressure between sound collecting unit 10 and the auscultation target changes. When rotation of turntable 9 is stopped, sound collecting unit 10 can be fixed in that position.

[0022] Furthermore, in the electronic stethoscope according to this embodiment, pressure sensors 7 are arranged on the contact surface of the sound collection unit 10 with the auscultation target. In the example shown in FIG. 1(b), four pressure sensors 7 are arranged. These pressure sensors 7 detect the contact pressure of the contact surface between the sound collection unit 10 and the auscultation target when the support unit 20 of the chestpiece 100 is adhered to the auscultation target by the adhesive member 6. When the surface of the sound collection unit 10 contacts the auscultation target with an appropriate contact pressure, the sound collection unit 10 can acquire biological sounds with an appropriate signal level.

[0023] If the pressure value detected by the pressure sensor 7 is not an appropriate contact pressure, the position of the sound collecting unit 10 is moved to adjust the contact pressure between the sound collecting unit 10 and the auscultation target to an appropriate pressure value.

[0024] Whether the pressure value detected by the pressure sensor 7 is an appropriate contact pressure or not is determined as follows. For example, as shown in Fig. 2, the signal processing device 5 is configured to include a comparison unit 52 to which the pressure value output from the pressure sensor 7 is input, and a storage unit 53 that stores a set pressure range that will result in an appropriate contact pressure and outputs the set pressure range to the comparison unit 52. The pressure sensor 7 may be, for example, a pressure-sensitive resistor element in which the resistance value between two electrodes changes when pressure is detected.

[0025] The set pressure range stored in the memory unit 53 is set from the biological sound signals obtained by contacting the sound collection unit 10 with the auscultation target at various contact pressures while the chestpiece 100 is attached to the auscultation target. For example, FIG. 3 shows biological sound signals obtained when the sound collection unit 10 is contacted with the auscultation target at various contact pressures. In FIG. 3, (a) shows the biological sound signal when the contact pressure between the sound collection unit 10 and the auscultation target is low, (b) shows the biological sound signal when the contact pressure is higher than that shown in (a), and (c) shows the biological sound signal when the contact pressure is higher than that shown in (b). Comparing (a) to (c) in FIG. 3, with the contact pressure shown in (a), no biological sound signal can be obtained, while with the contact pressure shown in (c), the biological sound signal is large and partially saturated. In contrast, with the contact pressure shown in (b), a biological sound signal with less noise can be obtained. By determining in advance the contact pressure at which such a biological sound signal with less noise can be obtained, the contact pressure range at which the desired biological sound signal can be obtained can be determined.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 2 , the previously confirmed contact pressure range is stored in memory unit 53 as a set pressure range. The pressure value output from pressure sensor 7 and the set pressure range stored in memory unit 53 are input to comparison unit 52, which determines whether the pressure value output from pressure sensor 7 is within the set pressure range. The determination result is output to notification unit 40. Notification unit 40 notifies the subject of auscultation, the person using the electronic stethoscope, or a doctor performing remote medical care of the determination result. For example, notification unit 40 changes the color, lighting, extinguishing, or flashing of an LED provided on the electronic stethoscope. Alternatively, notification unit 40 may be configured to emit a sound from a speaker or display the determination result in text on a display device. Note that notification unit 40, such as an LED, speaker, or display device, does not necessarily need to be integrated into the electronic stethoscope, particularly the chestpiece; instead, the electronic stethoscope may be configured to transmit the determination result to notification unit 40.

[0027] If the judgment result shows that the contact pressure of the sound collection unit 10 is within the set pressure range, the body sound signal output in that state will be a body sound signal obtained by acquiring body sound at an appropriate signal level. On the other hand, if the judgment result shows that the contact pressure of the sound collection unit 10 is outside the set pressure range, the position of the sound collection unit 10 is moved, and the contact pressure of the sound collection unit 10 is again compared with the set pressure range to obtain a judgment result. By repeating this process, the contact pressure of the sound collection unit 10 can be brought within the set pressure range.

[0028] When the sound collection unit 10 reaches a suitable pressure value, the body sound picked up by the microphone 1 becomes a body sound with an appropriate signal level and is converted into a body sound signal with little distortion or noise.

[0029] In this way, even a person who is not familiar with using an electronic stethoscope can obtain biological sound signals without noise and at an appropriate signal level by attaching the electronic stethoscope to the subject to be auscultated and adjusting the contact pressure of the sound collection unit 10.

[0030] While one embodiment of the electronic stethoscope of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be modified in various ways. For example, the output of the comparison unit 52, which determines whether the pressure value output from the pressure sensor 7 is within a set pressure range, can be input to the biosound signal generation unit 51, and the biosound signal can be output from the biosound signal generation unit 51 to the output unit 30 only if the pressure value output from the pressure sensor 7 is within the set pressure range. The method for changing the position of the sound collection unit 10 is not limited to rotating a screw, and various modifications can be made. For example, the sound collection unit 10 may be configured so that when pressed toward the auscultation target, it is fixed at a position where it has moved a predetermined distance toward the auscultation target, and the position of the sound collection unit 10 can be changed by the number of times it is pressed. In this case, to move the pressed sound collection unit 10 in the reverse direction, i.e., in the direction opposite the auscultation target, the sound collection unit 10 can be moved in the direction opposite the auscultation target by releasing the fixed state of the pressed sound collection unit 10. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to membrane-type chestpieces, and can also be applied to bell-type chestpieces.

[0031] (summary) (1) One embodiment of the electronic stethoscope of the present invention is an electronic stethoscope comprising a sound collection unit that acquires biological sounds using a microphone and a support unit for the sound collection unit, wherein the sound collection unit is equipped with a pressure sensor that detects the pressure of contact with the auscultation target, and the support unit is equipped with an adhesive unit that adheres to the auscultation target, and can be configured to move the sound collection unit in a direction that protrudes toward the auscultation target or in the opposite direction, and support the sound collection unit so that it can be fixed in the moved position.

[0032] According to the electronic stethoscope of this embodiment, the sound collection unit and the auscultation target come into contact with each other at a pressure suitable for acquiring body sounds, and body sounds with an appropriate signal level can be acquired.

[0033] (2) The sound collection unit may have a screw portion that is joined to the support unit, and the support unit may have a screw hole that engages with the screw portion. The sound collection unit may be moved by rotating the screw portion, and the sound collection unit may be supported so that it can be fixed at a position where the rotation of the screw portion is stopped.

[0034] (3) The pressure sensor may be configured to include a memory unit that stores a preset pressure range, a comparison unit that compares the pressure detected by the pressure sensor with the pressure range stored in the memory unit and determines whether the pressure detected by the pressure sensor is within the pressure range, and an alarm unit that notifies the result of the determination by the comparison unit.

[0035] This eliminates the need to search for the optimum contact pressure between the sound collection unit and the subject each time auscultation is performed, and since it automatically detects when the optimum contact pressure range has been reached, even those who are not accustomed to using electronic stethoscopes can easily obtain biological sound signals without noise and at an appropriate signal level. [Explanation of symbols]

[0036] 1 microphone 2 Sound collection space 3 membrane 4 Posterior chamber 5. Signal Processing Device 51 Biosound signal generator 52 Comparison section 53 Memory section 6 Adhesive material 7 Pressure Sensor 8 Engagement part 8A screw part 8B screw hole 9 Turntable 10 Sound collection section 20 Support part 30 Output section 40 Information Department 100 Chest Piece

Claims

1. A sound collection unit that captures biological sounds using a microphone; An electronic stethoscope comprising a support part for the sound collecting part, The sound collecting unit includes a pressure sensor that detects the pressure of contact with the auscultation target, The support part includes an adhesive part that is attached to the auscultation target, and moves the sound collection part in a direction that protrudes the sound collection part toward the auscultation target or in the opposite direction, and supports the sound collection part so that the sound collection part can be fixed at the moved position. Electronic stethoscope.

2. the sound collection unit includes a screw portion that is joined to the support unit, the support portion has a screw hole that engages with the screw portion, and moves the sound collection portion by rotating the screw portion, and supports the sound collection portion so that the sound collection portion can be fixed at a position where the rotation of the screw portion is stopped.

2. The electronic stethoscope of claim 1.

3. a storage unit that stores a preset pressure range; a comparison unit that compares the pressure detected by the pressure sensor with the pressure range stored in the storage unit and determines whether the pressure detected by the pressure sensor is within the pressure range; a notification unit that notifies the determination result of the comparison unit; 3. The electronic stethoscope of claim 1, further comprising:

Images