Bioacoustic techniques is applicable to primary health care

The stethoscope has been used diagnostically for nearly two hundred years to assess the heart function. We can envision the intelligent stethoscope which combines the advantages of the traditional instrument with advanced functionality for analysis of the signal and other information support. The bioacoustic technique is basically simple and robust and fits therefore into a scenario where investigations are performed in a distributed health care system as in primary health care or even home health care. We have focused on detection of respiratory sounds and third heart sounds. The later is performed with a new wavelet technique which makes it possible to automatically detect and identify the sounds and possibly relate them to myocardial insufficiency.