Analysis of Frequently Heard Noises in the Use of Electronic Stethoscopes

Abstract

Listening to the produced internal sounds of the body with a stethoscope is called auscultation. Classical stethoscopes aim to transmit the perceived sounds from the diaphragm part to the headphones with as little attenuation as possible during auscultation. Thus, the quality of classical stethoscopes is related to how little it attenuates sounds. In electronic stethoscopes, where sounds are obtained with the microphone it is possible to filter sounds and increase the amplitudes of the sounds. In addition to loudness, noise is another effective factor in stethoscopes. Noises may arise from he environment, organs within the body, the patient, patient companions or physicians. When using insulating materials, it is partly possible to attenuate out-of-body noises in conventional stethoscopes, but it is not possible to prevent in-body noises. In electronic stethoscopes, it is possible to attenuate internal and external body noise by using signal processing methods. However, these capabilities can be used in situations where noise characteristics can be defined. In this study, we aimed to identify and introduce commonly heard noises in electronic stethoscope use. We examined the time and frequency domain properties by creating a data set from the noise we determined. Also, we have carried out the study of the classification of noise using these features. © 2020 IEEE.