HK1061507A1 - A stethoscope device capable of separating heart and lung sounds recorded simultaneously - Google Patents

Description

Stethoscope listening head capable of separating cardiopulmonary sounds and stethoscope with same

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a stethoscope, and more particularly, to a stethoscope tin capable of separating lung sounds and heart sounds and a stethoscope with the same.

Background

The use of a stethoscope for diagnosing cardiopulmonary diseases is a simple and effective method currently used. Generally, a conventional stethoscope can collect lung and heart sounds generated from the lungs, respiratory tract and heart of a human body, thereby judging a pathological condition.

When a stethoscope is used to collect heart and lung sound signals, the headpiece is usually in direct contact with the skin of the chest, so that if electrodes are placed on the headpiece, the stethoscope can simultaneously collect cardiac signals from the body surface.

Both stethoscopes and electrocardiographs are clinically basic diagnostic instruments and play an important role in primary screening of diseases. Moreover, the electrocardiogram signal and the heart sound signal originate from the mechanical activity and the electrical activity, respectively, of the heart, which have a close intrinsic relationship. The two signals are compared and analyzed simultaneously, which is helpful for the user to evaluate the function of the heart more accurately.

Both DE3804616 and JP10127626 disclose stethoscope designs capable of simultaneously monitoring electrocardiograms, the essential feature of which is the fixation of the electrodes at the periphery of the stethoscope head. CH1195279 also discloses a stethoscope design capable of monitoring electrocardiograms, with the slight difference that two electrodes are movably arranged on the head of the stethoscope. The electrodes disclosed in the above three patents are all arranged in a triangle, and aim to approximately realize the acquisition of Einthoven standard limb lead electrocardiogram commonly used in clinic.

However, studies have shown that the measurement method of the electrocardiographic signals realized by the electrode arrangement method only reflects the change of the potential difference between the two electrodes caused by the electrical activity of the heart along with time, so that the spatial resolution is not high, and a series of electrical activities of the heart distributed discretely in space cannot be well identified and positioned.

In addition, when diagnosing related lung and respiratory diseases, the conventional stethoscope simultaneously receives lung sounds and heart sounds, and the presence of the heart sounds affects the listening and recording of the lung sounds, thereby reducing the accuracy of analyzing and judging lesions of the lung sounds. This is also true when diagnosing heart disease. Since the frequencies of the partial heart sounds and lung sounds overlap, the heart sounds and lung sounds cannot be effectively separated even with a high-pass or low-pass filter.

Although the heart sound and the lung sound are separated by utilizing the non-correlation of the heart sound signal and the lung sound signal, the additional signal collecting and separating device is complex and the processing procedure is complicated.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned deficiencies of the prior art. Accordingly, the present invention provides an auditory head of a stethoscope having a simple structure capable of effectively receiving heart sounds and lung sounds simultaneously and separating the heart sounds and the lung sounds as required, and a stethoscope having the same.

The stethoscope head capable of separating heart sounds and lung sounds according to the present invention comprises: a sound signal collector; an electrocardiogram signal collector; and a holder fixing the sound signal collector and the electrocardiogram signal collector. Wherein the holder includes an annular holder portion and a tapered holder portion engaging the annular holder, the acoustic signal collector being secured to the annular holder.

Moreover, aiming at the arrangement mode of the electrodes on the auditory head and the measuring method of the electric signals, the invention provides a scheme different from a comparison file: the body surface electrocardiosignal collector comprises four conductive electrodes for collecting electrocardiogram signals, wherein one conductive electrode is arranged in the center of the sound signal collector, and the other three conductive electrodes are uniformly distributed along the periphery of the annular bracket part; the conductive electrode is adhered to the center of the acoustic signal collector fixed to the ring-shaped holder and the periphery of the ring-shaped holder through an electric insulator having adhesiveness. The conductive electrode is electrically connected to a power supply outside the ear tip via a conductive adhesive.

When the stethoscope head is placed on the chest of a subject to collect sound signals, a group of electrodes on the stethoscope head can simultaneously collect electrocardiosignals of the body surface as an indication of the electrical activity of the heart. The invention effectively separates the heart sound and the lung sound by utilizing the correlation between the electrocardiosignal and the heart sound signal through the signal filtering and processing device, thereby accurately judging the pathological changes.

The stethoscope head according to the present invention wherein the sound signal collector is a membrane fixed to the support.

The stethoscope head according to the present invention wherein the sound signal amplifier is formed of a tapered space defined by the annular frame portion, the tapered frame portion and the membrane.

According to the stethoscope head of the present invention, the electroacoustic transducer is disposed in the conical space at a position opposed to the center of the membrane.

The invention also provides a stethoscope with the stethoscope head, wherein the stethoscope further comprises a signal filtering and processing device for receiving signals from the sound signal collector and the electrocardiogram signal collector, and the processing device can effectively separate lung sounds and heart sounds.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a bottom view of the stethoscope headpiece of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the head of the stethoscope according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the stethoscope headpiece of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a portion of a conductive electrode and a portion of a ring support of an embodiment of a stethoscope head of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of another conductive electrode and membrane of an embodiment of the stethoscope headpiece of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention is described in further detail below with reference to the drawings and preferred embodiments.

As shown in fig. 1 to 5, a stethoscope head capable of separating heart sounds and lung sounds, comprising: a membrane 5 as a sound signal collector to collect sound signals emitted from the heart organs and lungs and respiratory tract; four conductive electrodes 1, 2, 3, 4 as an electrocardiogram signal collector; and a holder for fixing the thin film 5 and the four conductive electrodes 1, 2, 3, 4. The support enables the film and the conductive electrode to form an integrated structure. The support comprises an annular support part 6 and a conical support part 11 engaging with the annular support part, the two parts of the support constituting the basic skeleton of the stethoscope head. Of course, the bracket may also be of unitary construction. The annular shelf portion 6 may be locked to the conical shelf portion 11 by a helical interface. Of course, the two frame portions may be connected by other means of connection known in the art.

The annular frame portion 6 is made of a stainless material and has an annular shape with a certain width. As shown in fig. 4, a screw thread is provided on the contact surface between the annular holder part 6 and the conical holder part 11, and the annular holder part 6 is locked to the conical holder part 11 in a screw-threaded manner. As shown in fig. 4 and 5, the thin film 5 has a certain thickness and covers a plane or a curved surface formed by the annular frame portion 6. Of the four conductive electrodes, three conductive electrodes 1, 2, 3 are uniformly distributed along the periphery of the annular frame portion 6, and the other conductive electrode 4 is provided on the film 5 at the center of the annular frame portion 6. An electrical insulator 7 is provided between the conductive electrodes 1, 2 and 3 and the annular frame portion 6 to avoid leakage of the conductive electrodes onto the annular frame portion 6. In addition, the electrical insulator 7 has adhesive properties, and can adhere the conductive electrodes 1, 2 and 3 to the annular frame portion 6. An insulator 7 is also provided between the conductive electrode 4 and the thin film 5, and the conductive electrode 4 adheres to the thin film 5 due to the adhesiveness of the insulator 7. The electrodes 1, 2, 3, 4 protrude outwardly from the annular frame portion 6 to the same height, wherein the width of the conductive electrodes 1, 2, 3 corresponds to the width of the annular frame portion 6, and for aesthetic reasons, the three conductive electrodes may be designed to have the same shape, and the cross-section of the conductive electrode 4 may be circular, or may be other suitable shapes. The conductive electrodes 1, 2, 3, 4 are connected to a power supply outside the auditory head via the conductive adhesive 8, so that the conductive electrodes 1, 2, 3, 4 are powered on.

As shown in fig. 2, the acoustic signal amplifier 9 is formed by a tapered space defined by the annular frame portion 6, the tapered frame portion 11, and the membrane 5. The sound signal amplifier 9 extends from the other side of the annular frame portion 6, behind the membrane 5, in the direction opposite to the direction in which the conductive electrodes protrude, is an internal hollow portion of the stethoscope head, defined by the annular frame portion 6, the membrane 5 and the conical frame portion 11. The acoustic signal amplifier 9 is hollow inside, and amplifies the acoustic signal collected by the membrane 5 by resonance. On the upper part of the acoustic signal amplifier 9, an acoustoelectric sensor 10 is provided, which receives the signal from the membrane 5 and converts it into an electrical signal for output, the acoustoelectric sensor 10 being located opposite to the center of the membrane 5.

The present invention also provides a stethoscope with such a stethoscope head, wherein the stethoscope further comprises a signal filtering and processing unit for receiving signals from the sound signal collector and the electrocardiogram signal collector, the processing unit being capable of effectively separating lung sounds from heart sounds.

When the auditory head is placed on the chest of a human body, the membrane 5 collects sounds emitted from the heart or lungs and respiratory tract, and the collected sounds are amplified by passing through the sound signal amplifier 9. The amplified sound signal is passed to the acousto-electric transducer 10 where it is converted to an electrical signal. The conductive electrodes 1, 2, 3, 4 are in contact with the human body and collect electrocardiogram signals generated by the above organs. Since the acoustic signal and the electrocardiogram signal are collected at the same time, the two signals are filtered by using a common filtering device (not shown), and then the two signals are sent to a signal filtering and processing unit, the correlation between the electrocardiogram signal and the heart sound signal is utilized to effectively separate the heart sound and the lung sound, thereby accurately judging the lesion.

The stethoscope head and the stethoscope with the stethoscope head not only keep the function that the prior stethoscope can simultaneously listen to mixed cardiopulmonary sounds, but also can effectively separate the cardiac sounds from the pulmonary sounds and selectively listen to the cardiac sounds or the pulmonary sounds. The stethoscope head and the stethoscope with the stethoscope head have simple structures and compact shapes, are not only suitable for hospitals and outpatient rooms, but also can be used for household health care, medical student training, remote medical treatment and the like.

Claims (9)

1. A stethoscope headpiece, comprising:

a sound signal collector;

a body surface electrocardiogram signal collector; and

fix sound signal collector and electrocardiogram signal collector's support, its characterized in that: the holder includes an annular holder portion and a tapered holder portion engaging the annular holder, the acoustic signal collector being secured to the annular holder; the body surface electrocardiogram signal collector comprises four conductive electrodes for collecting electrocardiogram signals, wherein one conductive electrode is arranged in the center of the sound signal collector, and the other three conductive electrodes are uniformly distributed along the periphery of the annular support part; the conductive electrode is adhered to the center of the acoustic signal collector fixed to the ring-shaped holder and the periphery of the ring-shaped holder through an electric insulator having adhesiveness.

2. The hearing head according to claim 1, wherein the acoustic signal collector is a membrane fixed to the frame.

3. The hearing head according to claim 2, further comprising an acoustic signal amplifier for amplifying the acoustic signal collected by the acoustic signal collector.

4. The hearing head according to claim 3, further comprising an acoustoelectric sensor for receiving the signal from the acoustic signal collector and converting it into an electrical signal for output.

5. The auditory head according to claim 2, characterized in that the membrane covers a plane or curved surface formed by the annular frame portion.

6. The hearing head according to claim 4, wherein the acoustic signal amplifier is formed by a conical space defined by the annular frame portion, the conical frame portion and the membrane.

7. The hearing head according to claim 6, wherein the acoustoelectric sensor is disposed in the conical space at a position opposite to the center of the membrane.

8. The listening head according to claim 1, wherein the conductive electrodes are electrically connected to a power supply outside the listening head by a conductive cement.

9. A stethoscope comprising the headpiece of claim 1, wherein said stethoscope further comprises a signal filter and processor for receiving signals from said sound signal collector and said ecg signal collector, said processor being operative to separate lung sounds from heart sounds.