Human sized manikin for training of auscultation

Details Human sized manikin for training of auscultation Human sized manikin for training of auscultation

2001-10-30

2003-03-04

Rovnak, John Edmund (Department: 3714)

Education and demonstration

Anatomy, physiology, therapeutic treatment, or surgery...

Simulation of body sound

Reexamination Certificate

active

06527559

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a human sized manikin for the training of auscultation comprising a core body made of resin foam that has built-in speakers coupled to a living body sound reproducing apparatus and is covered by a fake skin or an imitation skin on the outside of the core body. This human sized manikin is used for the diagnostic training through auscultation in a medical education course and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Those known as such kinds of human sized manikins are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Examined Publication No. H05-27113 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 2990602.
These known techniques allow users to perform the diagnostic training through auscultation by reproduction of pre-recorded normal living body sounds and pre-recorded sounds from patients through small speakers built in sites to be auscultated.
However, when a stethoscope is displaced from the position of a speaker built in the manikin, subtle noise cannot be differentiated from others because propagation power of sounds in soft resin foam is very small. In addition, living body sounds are emitted with certain spreads depending on the positions of sound sources. For example, air cell sounds in lungs or lung sounds are categorized into those from the upper lung field, middle lung field, lower lung field, and bottom lung field, and each of them is also different in the right and left lungs. In addition, the former three sites require auscultation from both the front and back of the human body, so that each of these sounds needs to be auscultated separately. Furthermore, it is important in the training of auscultation to accurately obtain a range in which each sound spreads.
Therefore, the auscultation only at a pinpointed position is inconvenient for users to perform the natural and proper training of auscultation.
The problem to be solved in the present invention is to allow users to perform accurate auscultation of living body sounds at each site to be auscultated and obtain accurate auscultation ranges in a human sized manikin for training of auscultation comprising a core body made of resin foam that has built-in speakers coupled to a living body sound reproducing apparatus and is covered by an imitation skin on the outside of the core body.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Technical means to solve this technical problem is (i) forming recesses on a core body corresponding to sites to be auscultated; (ii) attaching a sound reflector with a concaved surface to the outside of each speaker; and (iii) fitting this speaker with a reflector in each recess and making the core body support each of the speakers separately.
The speaker coupled to a living body sound reproducing apparatus can diffuse the reproduced sounds because a sound reflector with concaved surface is attached to the outside of the speaker. Since this speaker with a reflector is fitted in each of the recesses formed corresponding to each site to be auscultated, it emits and spreads sounds outwardly. In addition, the core body supports the speakers separately and thus each of the sounds can accurately be differentiated from others.
Since the outside of the core body is covered with an imitation skin, the living body sounds reproduced are diffused between the reflector and the imitation skin. Therefore, the sounds can be auscultated accurately within certain ranges.
As for the living body sounds, it is sufficient that at least one or two kinds of sounds selected from the lung sounds, heart sounds, murmurs, and miscellaneous organic sounds are reproduced. In this case, besides a separate reproduction of each sound, synchronous reproductions of different kinds of sounds allows performing the various training of auscultation, including differentiation of a sound from combinations of different kinds of sounds or correlation thereof.
The size of the speaker and reflector is determined corresponding to each sound.
As for the lung sounds, as described in the beginning of this specification, auscultation needs to be performed on both the front and back of the body. For this purpose, a rotation axis is embedded and secured in the core body to support the manikin while allowed to rotate in the hoizontal direction, so that switch between the front and back for each auscultation can be obtained naturally.
When sounds are reproduced, digital signals need to be converted into analog signals. When a large number of sounds are reproduced at a time, sound quality may deteriorate because of the property of the D/A board. Then, when the living body sound reproducing apparatus can switch reproductions between the sounds for the front auscultation and those for the back auscultation at the rotation of the manikin, the number of the sounds reproduced at a time can be reduced. Thus the reproduction of the living body sounds can be performed without deterioration of sound quality.
The present invention has an advantage of allowing the proper training of auscultation corresponding to symptoms because accurate auscultation of living body sounds can be performed at each site to be auscultated and auscultation ranges can be obtained.


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