Cited by 349Non-Invasive Vital Sign MonitoringAdvanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting MaterialsWireless Body Area Networks

Mechano-acoustic sensing of physiological processes and body motions via a soft wireless device placed at the suprasternal notch

Open access
Lee, KunHyuck, Ni, Xiaoyue, Lee, Jong Yoon, Arafa, Hany, Pe, David J., Xu, Shuai, Avila, Raudel, Irie, Masahiro +24 more·2019·Nature Biomedical Engineering

Abstract

Skin-mounted soft electronics that incorporate high-bandwidth triaxial accelerometers can capture broad classes of physiologically relevant information, including mechano-acoustic signatures of underlying body processes (such as those measured by a stethoscope) and precision kinematics of core-body motions. Here, we describe a wireless device designed to be conformally placed on the suprasternal notch for the continuous measurement of mechano-acoustic signals, from subtle vibrations of the skin at accelerations of around 10-3 m s-2 to large motions of the entire body at about 10 m s-2, and at frequencies up to around 800 Hz. Because the measurements are a complex superposition of signals that arise from locomotion, body orientation, swallowing, respiration, cardiac activity, vocal-fold vibrations and other sources, we exploited frequency-domain analysis and machine learning to obtain-from human subjects during natural daily activities and exercise-real-time recordings of heart rate, respiration rate, energy intensity and other essential vital signs, as well as talking time and cadence, swallow counts and patterns, and other unconventional biomarkers. We also used the device in sleep laboratories and validated the measurements using polysomnography.

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  • IMUs with high sampling frequency characteristics (3.3 or 6.6 kHz) can capture high spectral features to measure acoustic signals in addition to mechanical signals induced by cardiac activities.

    “However, IMUs with high sampling frequency characteristics (3.3 or 6.6 kHz) can capture high spectral features to measure acoustic signals in addition to mechanical signals induced by cardiac activities (26, 27).”

    From Miniaturized wireless, skin-integrated sensor networks for quantifying full-body movement behaviors and vital signs in infants (2021) · cites this paper as [26]

    The Abstract describes a high-bandwidth accelerometer that captures mechano-acoustic signals, and the Results section on suprasternal-notch measurements reports both cardiac pulses at 20–50 Hz and acoustic components of swallowing at 100–800 Hz. Our copy does not establish the claimed 3.3 or 6.6 kHz sampling frequencies; searches for those values and for sampling rates found no supporting passage. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Previous reports validated the performance of an FDA-cleared physiological monitoring system against gold standard monitoring platforms.

    “Previous reports validated the performance of an FDA-cleared physiological monitoring system against gold standard monitoring platforms [18–23].”

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [45]Titze IR & Martin DW Principles of Voice Production The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 104, (Prentice Hall, 1998).

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Authors
Lee, K., Ni, X., Lee, J. Y., Arafa, H., Pe, D. J., Xu, S., Avila, R., Irie, M., Lee, J. H., Easterlin, R. L., Kim, D. H., Chung, H. U., Olabisi, O. O., Getaneh, S., Chung, E., Hill, M., Bell, J., Jang, H., Liu, C., Park, J. B., Kim, J., Kim, S. B., Mehta, S., Pharr, M., Tzavelis, A., Reeder, J. T., Huang, I., Deng, Y., Xie, Z., Davies, C. R., Huang, Y., & Rogers, J. A.
Affiliations
  • Northwestern University (US)
  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
  • Texas A&M University (US)
  • Carle Foundation Hospital (US)
Corresponding author
  • Xie, Zhaoqian
  • Davies, Charles R.
  • Huang, Yonggang
  • Rogers, John A.
Venue
Nature Biomedical Engineering
Published
2019-11-25
Volume
4
Issue
2
Pages
148-158
ISSN
2157-846X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2990691150
Cited by
349
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 34 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 64 · 2023: 53 · 2022: 65 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 27
FWCI
13.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Biomedical Engineering (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Institute on Aging (R41AG062023, R43AG060812)
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
  • Indo-US Science and Technology Forum
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (11402134)
  • National Science Foundation (CMMI1635443)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Non-Invasive Vital Sign Monitoring
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Wireless Body Area Networks
Keywords
suprasternal notch, triaxial accelerometer, vital signs monitoring, heart rate, respiration rate, energy intensity, swallowing, cadence, sleep patterns, polysomnography validation, frequency domain analysis, machine learning
MeSH terms
Clavicle, Equipment Design, Humans, Monitoring, Physiologic, Physiological Phenomena, Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted, Skin Physiological Phenomena, Sleep, Vibration, Biosensing Techniques, Exercise, Wireless Technology

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