# A Non-invasive, Wearable, Miniaturized Auscultation Device for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Diseases

> **NIH NIH R03** · GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2020 · $87,068

## Abstract

Summary: Respiratory diseases (RDs) are the fifth cause of death in the US and impose over $150B on
healthcare cost. RDs like asthma are incurable and can be life-threatening if not treated promptly. As most
dangerous RDs are progressive and manageable with preventive treatment, early detection is crucial to prevent
exacerbation. Current diagnosis relies on costly and time-consuming clinical visits, discouraging preventative
screening without severe symptoms especially for low/middle-income population at higher RD risks due to more
exposure to tobacco and work-related particulates. Diagnosis of RDs like asthma also relies on detection of
intermittent abnormal respiratory sounds, which can benefit from prolonged recordings outside the clinic setting.
In this project, a low-cost, low-profile, easy-to-use and effective device will be developed to detect adventitial
asthma respiratory sounds, facilitating access to screening and continuous treatment monitoring in RD patients.
 Auscultation is a powerful, non-invasive and well-established method to evaluate health of cardiopulmonary
system through sounds of lung and heart. Stethoscopes have been used by physicians for over two centuries in
clinics, but they are unsuitable for continuous cardiopulmonary activities monitoring due to large form-factor and
dependence on listening skills and experience, prohibiting critical applications like ambulatory monitoring and
early detection of RDs in small children. A need exists for a low-profile, miniaturized, high-precision diagnostic
device that is more accessible and can accurately detect and quantify respiratory abnormalities over prolonged
measurements without relying on the skills and experience of a physician to interpret the sounds. To that end,
the electronic interface and acoustic coupling of a MEMS-based accelerometer contact microphone (ACM) onto
skin will be optimized to record respiratory sounds with high fidelity, and compared against clinical diagnosis.
 Breakthrough, hermetically-sealed, high-precision ACMs with unidirectional vibration sensitivity will be used
to overcome limits of standard stethoscopes that are bulky, susceptible to airborne and rubbing noise, and hard
to use. Besides lung and heart sounds, the ACM simultaneously acquires respiratory rate, heart rate and physical
activities of the users. Data will be analyzed using simple algorithms like time-frequency analysis and continuous
wavelet transformation to provide reliable information for diagnosis of asthma by detecting signature sounds like
wheezing in a wide frequency range of 100Hz-5kHz. Diagnosis accuracy and comprehensiveness are expected
to be improved by the ACM-enabled prolonged recording, capability of correlating respiratory sounds with heart
sounds and body motions, and detection of higher frequency signals. Interface between ACM and skin will be
optimized to increase acoustic coupling over a wide frequency range for wideband adventitious sounds. Low-
profile wearable A...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10058025
- **Project number:** 1R03EB029099-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** Farrokh Ayazi
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $87,068
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-15 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10058025

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10058025, A Non-invasive, Wearable, Miniaturized Auscultation Device for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Diseases (1R03EB029099-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10058025. Licensed CC0.

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