Detection of heart murmurs

• Main Author: Chia, Miao Juan.
• Other Authors: Soh Cheong Boon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/46174
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Heart murmurs are abnormal sounds during a heartbeat cycle [1]. These sounds, caused by the turbulent blood in the heart, are traditionally detected by auscultation. However, the analysis based on these heart sounds is often subjective and unreliable. This project aims to refine the diagnosis process by developing a heart sound analyzer to identify the heart sound components as well as murmurs. The heart sounds heard through a stethoscope cannot provide an accurate diagnosis on the heart murmurs. Hence, further tests are often required to evaluate the severity of the murmurs. The heart sound analyzer serves as a non-invasive and affordable tool for the diagnosis of heart murmurs and minimises the need for further tests. Wavelet analysis was chosen as the methodology to identify the heart sound components in this project. Important characteristics of the heart sound signals were observed and used to classify the heart murmurs. This research report shows the outline of the development of heart sound analyzer used to detect heart murmurs, in particular mitral regurgitation.