Purpose
Create a stethoscope that can listen to a person's Carotid artery and determine the approxmate blockage present.
Abstract
Carotid artery bruits (brōō'ē) may be indicative of a narrowing of the arterial blood supply to the brain. This can be caused by atherosclerosis ( ath∙er∙o∙scle∙ro∙sis) which occurs when cholesterol and other substances create a build-up on the walls of the artery. Studies have suggested that severe arterial stenosis (arterial narrowing) may produce bruits that tend to persist longer and contain higher sound frequencies than healthy arteries. This project is intended to analyze signals recorded with an electronic stethoscope from a variety of individuals with and without the presence of bruits. Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis of preliminary carotid artery sound signals obtained from healthy individuals (while investigating the operational characteristics of the recording devices) appears to indicate that the maximum frequency present in healthy individuals is approximately 200[Hz]. FFT analysis of abnormal signal samples obtained from online sources (purportedly representing recordings of carotid bruits) appears to indicate frequencies as high as 500[Hz].