5 The electronic stethoscope has now been shown to deliver a higher sensitivity to sound than its conventional counterpart. Recent research is creating new interest in cardiac sounds, thanks to the miniaturization of sound sensors, development of signal processing techniques and popularization of artificial intelligence algorithms. 2, 3 However, the digital phonocardiogram has not been widely adopted, partly because of the emergence and popularity of novel imaging techniques such as echocardiography in the 1980s.
The electronic stethoscope was invented in the 1970s, allowing storage, replay and processing of sounds. By putting the chestpiece against the patient’s skin, the doctor can listen to the patient’s sounds through the two earpieces. 1 Conventional binaural stethoscopes comprise of a chestpiece and two earpieces. The stethoscope has a history of over 200 years and still serves as a simple non-invasive tool to listen to patient’s sounds from lungs, heart and intestines. Smartphone, Electronic stethoscope, Heart sound, Quality assessment, mHealth Introduction BMI did not significantly affect the heart sound quality in a single attempt ( P = 0.73) or in three attempts ( P = 0.14). Success rate tended to decrease with age in the first attempt ( P = 0.06) but not the first three attempts ( P = 0.70). Phone version did not significantly change the users’ success rate of making a good recording, neither was sex in the first attempt ( P = 0.41) or the first three attempts ( P = 0.21). Most good recordings were collected in the first three attempts of the users. Over 80% of users were able to make at least one good-quality recording. A total of 1148 users contributed to 7597 heart sound recordings. Heart sound quality was visually assessed and its relation to phone version and users’ characteristics was analysed. Information on phone version and users’ characteristics including sex, age, and body mass index (BMI) was collected. An app named Echoes was developed for recording heart sounds using iPhone.
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