"Tiny, Wearable Stethoscope" Monitors Human Heart Rate, Captures Human Speech, University of Colorado Study

New wearable sensor technology uses acoustics to monitor a variety of vital signs, and is capable of recognizing human speech through the skin. Researchers from the University of Colorado, Boulder (CUB) and Northwestern University demonstrated that the device was light and flexible enough to be worn on the skin and can distinguish multiple physiological sounds.

Advances in mechano-acoustic signals and biosensing have presented a wide range of potential medical monitoring and fitness solutions, said authors of a study published in Science Advances. Researchers argued that existing monitoring devices — such as stethosocopes and digital accelerometers — could capture “some relevant data,” but had significant limitations in continuous wearablilty and “shortcomings associated with mechanical transduction of signals through skin.”

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