Healthcare (Commonwealth Union) – The ability with certain restrictions to self-monitor medical conditions gave a sense of independence, particularly to those who are located in rural areas with limited access to medical facilities.
Engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia, have created a lightweight wearable device that could eventually enable people to monitor their heart and respiratory health at home, helping to reduce hospital visits and allowing earlier detection of potential medical issues.
The flexible sensor patch can be attached to the chest or placed over peripheral arteries using medical adhesive tape. It is designed to continuously record faint vibrations generated by the heart, lungs, blood flow, and pulse waves.
The research team hopes the technology will one day support individuals with chronic cardiovascular and respiratory conditions by enabling remote health tracking and providing early warnings to clinicians before symptoms become serious.
This proof-of-concept study, carried out by UNSW researchers in partnership with clinicians and biomedical engineers, has been published in Nature Communications.
Lead researcher and corresponding author of the study, Scientia Associate Professor Hoang-Phuong Phan, says the aim is to develop a wearable device that patients can use independently at home as an alternative to the traditional stethoscope used by doctors.
Associate Professor Phan indicated that they have created a small wearable device that can be placed on the chest to detect heart sounds and breathing.
He further pointed out that it technically, has the goal of replacing the stethoscope, which is usually utilised in clinic centres to evaluate cardiovascular or respiration disease.
Researchers of the study indicated that tackles an increasing healthcare concern. Heart disease and long-term respiratory conditions continue to be some of the top causes of mortality globally, yet many patients are only evaluated briefly during infrequent medical visits.
Associate Professor Phan notes that this situation can pose significant difficulties for individuals in rural and remote communities, as well as for patients who are hesitant or unable to regularly attend hospitals and clinics.
He further pointed out that typically, when patients are seen by a doctor, they need to travel to a clinic, which can be quite inconvenient for those living in remote areas.
Associate Professor Phan pointed out that in certain instances individuals are hesitant to visit a hospital, so they wait until symptoms are certain.
By the time symptoms become severe enough for people to seek medical attention, the condition may already have progressed considerably.
Dr Anthony Sunjaya, a medical doctor and Program Lead for Chronic Respiratory Disease at UNSW’s School of Population Health, who co-authored the study stated that at that point, the disease may have already advanced, resulting in worse outcomes for patients even after treatment.
“When they go to a clinic, patients often only have a 15-minute window for assessment. The danger is that the abnormalities experienced will not be fully recognised during that short period of time they are being seen.”
The device, called “AusculPatch,” is smaller and lighter than many existing wearable monitoring systems, weighing just 3.2 grams and measuring approximately 20 × 47 × 3 millimeters.
At its core is an ultra-thin silicon sensing component designed to pick up minute mechanical vibrations that travel through the skin from the heart, lungs, and blood vessels.
Tran Bach Dang, the study’s first author and a PhD candidate at the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, indicated that as heart sounds move through body fluids and tissue, they create acoustic pressure that causes the sensor element to vibrate.
Unlike traditional microphones that primarily pick up audible sound, the new sensor is capable of sensing very low-frequency vibrations that are typically hard for existing wearable technologies to capture.
The device is able to record a wide range of physiological signals, such as breathing rhythms, pulse waves, heartbeats, and vibrations from blood flow.
Importantly, the researchers note that the patch has been engineered to reduce disruption from external environmental noise, which is a key limitation in many wearable acoustic sensing systems.
