After a tough but fascinating process of reviewing entries for the 2015 Soumac Award, two finalists have now been chosen and we are pleased to share with you the projects they had created.
In this first blog, we will provide a summary of the project from our first finalist, Renata Costa, who aims to increase the functionality of a basic stethoscope by creating one that could measure and convert signals digitally.
Described as an ‘intelligent’ stethoscope, the device will be designed to amplify the sounds of the respiratory system, while reducing the ambient noise by using signal processing techniques such as filtering, which will result in a much better quality of sound. The signal captured by the stethoscope can then be converted into a digital format to play back and store for later analysis.
It is believed that development of this stethoscope would result in improvements in the diagnosis of illnesses in patients, most commonly pulmonary diseases.
Renata has built and tested the power supply circuits to her project and is currently at the stage of building and testing amplifiers and filters. Once all the circuits are integrated, the final design can be implemented into a PCB board. Along with this, Renata has been working on capturing heart signals with a sensor design and audio development board which is aiding her in creating an algorithm for the analysis of the heart and respiratory signals.
Diagram of the project design
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