New medical device detects vibrations to monitor heart rhythm

World Today

Jae-Woong Jeong of the University of Colorado Boulder introduces an acoustic sensor, just developed, which will allow doctors to listen to their patients’ bodies to help detect if something’s wrong.

He said, “The device can pick up high quality heart sound from our chest and transmit that high quality sound to doctor.”

CGTN’s Hendrik Sybrandy reports.

The small sensor about the size of a penny is attached to the skin. It picks up vibrations in the human body; physiological sound signals that may capture the activity of organs like the heart even more effectively than an electrocardiogram.

Northwestern University’s Yonggang Huang says the device can be used anywhere.

Until now, patients have gone to hospitals or doctors’ offices for their medical tests. In the future, this sensor could perform wireless round-the-clock tests from noisy places, including a battlefield.

But that’s not all – 1 percent of the adult population has some sort of speech impairment. The researchers said the device can also recognize spoken words and help improve communications.

The sensor still needs further testing so it may be a while before it reaches the market but the researchers insist. This device will be a part of our daily lives, Jeong said. It’s only a matter of time.