COMPUTER-AIDED ANALYSIS OF PHONOCARDIOGRAM

Abstract

In the work presented here time-frequency scaling methods are applied for the analysis of phonocardiogram (PCG). Analytical techniques such as, Fourier transform, and Wavelet transform have been employed to test the different heart sounds in terms of their frequency components. Time-domain analysis has been done by time window averaging the acquired PCG signal resulting in envelope formation, for the different heat sounds. These envelopes have been used for accurate detection of different heart sounds, their duration of occurrence and time interval between subsequent heart sounds. The time-frequency scaling of the PCG carried out thus would find interesting and useful applications in the diagnosis of heart diseases and the study of auscultation. In the present work, dedicated software is designed and developed for acquiring, recording, and analyzing the PCG signal on a personal computer. PCG signal acquisition is done by placing a microphone on the chest (apex of the heart) and the acquired signal is displayed in real-time on the PC monitor. The signal is simultaneously stored and made ready for analysis in the time-frequency domain. An attempt has been made to get useful information regarding the details of the PCG signal, so that it would prove to be clinically beneficial