Smart Stethoscope
Using
Digital Signal Processing

Bradley University Electrical Engineering
Senior Project 2009

Albien Van Montero and Tracey Morgan
Advisor:  Mr. Steven Gutschlag

                                                                                 Progress

May 14, 2009 - Today we revised, completed, and submiited our final report to our advisor and posted on the website.

May 8, 2009 - Today we presented and demonstrated our project to the EE faculty and professors. We also submitted our draft to our advisor for our final report.

May 4, 2009 - This past week we have been working on our Final Report.  This week, it should be completed and we will turn it in to our advisor, as well as post it online.

April 30, 2009 - We did our senior project presentation today, as well as took our class picture.  Some pictures of us are posted on our pictures page.

April 29, 2009 - We took additional data today, specifically of Albien and Mr. Gutschlag.  We will be adding this information to our final presentation and report.

April 24, 2009 - We had our poster presentation today.  We presented three times.

April 23, 2009 - We took additional data using the carotid artery model, altering our sampling frequency and analyzed it in Matlab.  We also completed our poster this week.

April 14, 2009 - We took our initial data with the carotid artery model.

April 7, 2009 - We continue our research for additional carotid artery sounds, but are having no luck.  We also finished setting up the carotid artery model.  The healthy subject and carotid artery bruit signals were analyzed after downsampling first with the LPF and the results are now making sense.

April 2, 2009 - We tried analyzing the healthy subject and carotid artery bruit signals by downsampling and putting through a low pass filter first, but it is not working correctly.  We also moved the carotid artery model to Room 251, which has soundproofing.

March 31, 2009 - We had our first practice session for our presentation today.

March 24, 2009 - We converted the carotid bruit file to a wav format and analyzed the signal in Matlab.  We worked on our presentation.  We also increased the gain of the amplifier to 150.

March 19, 2009 - We tested the microphone today, which is working with the wiring, and designed a carotid artery pulse on the function generator.  We also worked with the battery to get +12 and -12 volts.  We also hooked up the flow meter, which is working as expected.

March 5, 2009 - This week we have been working with the healthy subject signal, zooming in on different frequencies.  Research was done at the University of Illinois Medical Library.  Heart and lung sounds were found, but none of the carotid artery.  We connected a twisted cable to the microphone, but it does not appear to be working with the cable.

February 24, 2009 - We gave our initial presentation today and received some suggestions that we will work on.

February 12, 2009 - We ordered all the parts for the carotid artery model from Koolance.  We continue to research sounds of the carotid artery.

February 10, 2009 - We research Bradley policies on research involving human subjects.  We find there is a Committee on the Use of Human Subjects in Research.  We designed the consent form and completed the application.  Mr. Gutschlag will review this week.

February 3, 2009 - We combine our microphone with the amplifier circuit.  It worked in the frequency range that we desire.

January 27, 2009 - Mr. Gutschlag provides us with an Electret Condenser Microphone.  We initially test with a speaker and the oscilloscope.  We then realize that we need to design an amplifier.  We start by designing in Orcad and then we setup the amplifier using a 741 Op Amp.

January 22, 2009 - We decide to target the carotid artery instead of the coronary artery.  From research, it looks like they are related and the carotid artery should be easier to isolate with audio.  We begin research of the carotid artery sounds.