Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Respiratory
Patent
1996-06-11
1999-07-27
Peffley, Michael
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Respiratory
600533, 600534, 600535, 600536, A61B 502
Patent
active
059281561
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a process and a device for the automatic detection and monitoring of conspicuous respiratory sounds, especially of persons suffering from and at risk from bronchitis or asthma, over a relatively long period of time.
The noninvasive, non-stressing ascertainment of experimental measured variables, by which specified noxious environmental actions on humans can be objectivized, continues to present problems, especially in human exposure research. While non-stressing methods exist for parameters such as pulse and blood pressure and even for the detoxification capacity of the liver, to date there is not yet a sufficiently simple and stress-free method which permits an objective recording of typical respiratory sounds in conjunction with likewise objectively measured emission variables. Nor is there a possibility of registering such values continuously and under normal conditions of life (in the case of children, for example, while playing in nursery school or in the open air, on the way to school, etc.) along a time coordinate, and immediately, or at a later stage, evaluating them, and possibly initiating a threshold value signal.
PRIOR ART
WO 90/04945 discloses, for example, a diagnostic process for diseases of the respiratory tract. In that process, first, preferably, the exhalation of the person to be investigated is recorded by means of a microphone. Next, the recorded respiratory sound is subjected to a spectral analysis and the result is presented in a frequency-time diagram. In this case, for example, differing colors in the diagram correspond to differing intensities. This type of presentation is intended to assist the physician in making the diagnosis, since he obtains an additional optical indication of the respiratory frequencies, from the time distribution and amplitude distribution, of which a morbid respiratory sound can be recognized.
However, it is not possible to continuously record respiratory sound during normal life activities in this way, since the vast amount of data makes evaluation and storage very costly. In this case, the treating physician must visually make the evaluation.
WO 91/03981 contains a description of a process for the automatic detection of morbid respiratory sounds. In that process, the respiratory sound of a person to be monitored is automatically detected within a cohesive frequency range in real time, processed, and evaluated. In this case, the sound waves are compared, in their amplitude and duration, with preset values which are typical of morbid respiratory sounds and, in this way, the occurrence of a morbid respiratory sound is recognized.
This process too is designed as a diagnostic process for the laboratory. It is thus not suitable in a simple manner for the detection and recording of conspicuous respiratory sounds during normal life activities. The characteristic signs, which vary from person to person, of the occurrence of morbid respiratory sounds are not taken into consideration, so that a reliable statement concerning the state of the disease is not possible in every case.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to specify a process and a device for the automatic detection of conspicuous respiratory sounds that considerably reduces the quantity of data in the course of the evaluation, with a simultaneous increase in the reliability. Accordingly, with appropriate miniaturization of the device, a continuous and stressfree registration of conspicuous respiratory sounds along a time coordinate over a period of hours or days during normal life activities is possible.
This object may be achieved by a device and a process in accordance with the invention.
The respiratory sounds of the person to be monitored are detected in real time, e.g., by a microphone, processed, and evaluated. The processing comprises, for example, amplification, noise suppression, and filtering. During the evaluation, consideration is given only to the characteristic frequency (frequencies) already determined individually f
REFERENCES:
patent: 3990435 (1976-11-01), Murphy
patent: 4428381 (1984-01-01), Hepp
patent: 4889130 (1989-12-01), Lee
patent: 5058600 (1991-10-01), Schechter et al.
patent: 5165417 (1992-11-01), Murphy, Jr.
patent: 5301679 (1994-04-01), Taylor
Becker Hans
Herbarth Olf
Krumbiegel Peter
Oberst Eberhard
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Forederung der Angewandten Forschung
Huang Stephan
Peffley Michael
UFZ-UmwelltforschungszenTrum Leipzig-Halle GmbH
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