DIGITAL STETHOSCOPE

A MINI PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF
“BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY”
IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
(MECHATRONICS)
Submitted by
AKKAPALLY PRATHIK 16261A1403
C VIJAY KUMAR 16261A1412
DAMMU HITESH 16261A1414
K YESHWANTH PRASANNA 16261A1419

Under the esteemed guidance of

Mr K VK VISWANADHAM
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MECHATRONICS)

MAHATMA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Accredited by National Board of Accreditation, New Delhi,
Accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ grade for five years, New Delhi
(Affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad)
Gandipet, Hyderabad – 500 075
www.mgit.ac.in
November 2019

1
 MAHATMA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Accredited by National Board of Accreditation, New Delhi,
Accredited by NAAC with ‘A’ grade for five years, New Delhi
(Affiliated to Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad)
Gandipet, Hyderabad – 500 075
www.mgit.ac.in
November 2019

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (MECHATRONICS)

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify the project report titled

“DIGITAL STETHOSCOPE”
Submitted by
AKKAPALLY PRATHIK 16261A1403
C VIJAY KUMAR 16261A1412
DAMMU HITESH 16261A1414
K YESHWANTH PRASANNA 16261A1419

In partial fulfilment for the award of the degree of “Bachelor of Technology” in Mechanical
Engineering (Mechatronics) is the bonafide work carried out under the guidance and supervision during
the academic year 2019-2020. The report of this project has not been submitted by any other University
or Institute for the award of any Degree or Diploma

Mr K V K VISWANADHAM DR K SUDHAKAR REDDY

Internal Guide Professor & Head of the Department

Internal Examiner External Examiner

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 CANDIDATES DECLARATION

The group of four hereby declare that the project report entitled “DIGITAL STETHOSCOPE” is
original work and data provided in the study is authentic to the best of my knowledge. This
report has not been submitted for the award of any other degree or diploma

Place: Hyderabad – 500 075

Date: 18th November 2019

Prathik Akkapally 16261A1403

C Vijay Kumar 16261A1412

Hitesh Dammu 16261A1414

Yeshwanth K Prasanna 16261A1419

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 Acknowledgement

We are obliged to acknowledge all the people who have helped us in many ways for the successful completion of the
project.

It also gives us immense pleasure in expressing my heartfelt gratitude to our Guide, Mr K V K VISWANADHAM,
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering (Mechatronics), for his watchful guidance and
encouragement in completion and execution of this project work successfully.

We whole heartedly thank the support of Dr K SUDHAKAR REDDY, Professor &

Head of the Department, Mechanical Engineering (Mechatronics), MGIT, Hyderabad for his timely advice and
guidance for undertaking the project as well as in the on-going bachelors degree.

Our sincere regards to Dr K. JAYA SANKAR, Principal, MGIT, Hyderabad for his extending positive support
and encouragement to work upon this project.

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Contents

CHAPTER-1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 History
1.2 Existing system

CHAPTER-2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Acoustic properties of heart
2.1.1 Cardiac cycle
2.1.2 Heart sounds
2.2 Conventional Stethoscope

CHAPTER-3
MOTIVATION
3.1 Motivation
3.2 Problem statement
3.3 Objectives

CHAPTER-4
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE DESIGN
4.1 System block diagram
4.2 System design
4.3 LCD
4.4 Designing
4.5 Software method

CHAPTER-5
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
5.1 Results and Discussion
5.2 Advantages and Benefits
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 5.3 Additional Challenges

CHAPTER-6
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE
6.1 Conclusion

REFERENCES

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Abstract :
The stethoscope is one of the basic equipment used by every doctor to monitor the heart rate and
detect any problem in the heart. The heart sound is one of the basic ways to assess the state of the
heart and even the most experienced of the the doctors may miss a few faint heartbeats and hence
may diagnose the patient wrongly. To rectify this problem and also to remove human error from
the equation we can use this Digital Stethoscope.
It consists of an acoustic sensor, an amplifier, an ADC converter, 8051 microcontroller,
Arduino and a 7 segment LCD display. The heartbeat is recorded by the acoustic sensor and then
amplified to the required amplitude. This acoustic data is converted to digital signals by using an
ADC converter which is input to the 8051 microcontroller. We use a 12 MHz Quartz crystal for
measuring time and the heart rate for a certain amount of time is recorded and the beats per minute
is calculated by the microcontroller. This is shown on the 7 segment LED display. This whole
setup is powered by a 9V DC battery.
This device can accurately measure heart rate and can be further developed to detect any
diseases in the heart without actually visiting a doctor or a hospital.

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 Chapter 1 - Introduction

The stethoscope comes from the Greek language where stethos means inspection and for skope
means chest. It is a very vital transducer for many medical practitioners and used by end user like
doctors, nurses and physicians to detect the abnormalities of the heart and lung such as sounds of
heart and lung rhythm. Diaphragm of head stethoscope is the metal end that is placed on the chest
to listen to the lungs and heart sound with the tubing to tapered inner bores. This structure is able
to provide a better sound transmission while listening is known as a vacuum tube. The most
common type of stethoscope used these days is the acoustic stethoscope. However, the problem
with this acoustic stethoscope is the sound level is very low make it hard to analyse and diagnose
the heart sound by a medical doctor. This is why several forms of digital electronic stethoscope
have been developed to replace the conventional acoustic stethoscope. Basically, the purpose of
digital stethoscope is to improve the sound resolution, allow variable amplification, minimize
interference noise and simplify the output signal. The digital stethoscope can enhance the
auscultation problem of acoustic stethoscope which is easily affected by the movement and noise
surrounding.

The auscultation of the heart is one of the most common methods employed by physicians to
diagnose cardiovascular and respiratory illnesses. The most common auscultative tool is the
stethoscope. An experienced physician can diagnose wide range of cardiovascular abnormalities
including mitral stenosis and systolic murmurs; however, many abnormalities are commonly
missed due to an inability to apply selective listening to the various components of the heartbeat,
or a natural inability to detect frequencies outside the normal range of human hearing.
Segmentation of the various heart sound components, including components that indicate an
abnormality, can be difficult to achieve if they occur simultaneous are close apart.
1.1 History
The history of auscultation, listening to the sounds of the body, is easily described by a few
evolutionary leaps. Hippocrates (460-377 BC) provided the foundation for auscultation when he
put his ear against the chest of a patient and described the sounds he could hear from the heart.
The next leap was made by Robert Hooke (1635-1703) who realized the diagnostic use of cardiac
auscultation.

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The biggest breakthrough in auscultation came in 1816 when Rene Laennec (1781-1826) invented
the stethoscope. Laennec was about to examine a woman with the symptoms of heart disease, but
due to her sex and age, direct auscultation was inappropriate. Also, percussion and palpation gave
little information on account of the patient's obesity. Consequently, Laennec used a roll of paper
to avoid physical contact during the examination. As a spin-off, he found that heart and lung sounds
were amplified and previously unheard sounds emerged. The invention of the stethoscope resulted
in, without precedent, the most widely spread diagnostic instrument in the history of biomedical
engineering. The stethoscope has evolved over the years, but the underlying technology remains
the same.

Photo 1.1: (from left to right) Early monaural stethoscope (1860), Cammann's binaural
stethoscope (1870), a modern binaural stethoscope and a modern electronic stethoscope
Conventional Stethoscope:

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Anatomy of Stethoscope:
1. Headset: the headset id the metal part of the stethoscope onto which the tubing is fitted.
The headset is made up of two ear tubes, tension springs and ear tips.
The wearer can adjust the tension to a comfortable level by pulling the ear tubes apart to
loosen the headset or crossing over them over to tighten
2. Ear tip: Soft sealing ear tips offer increased comfort, seal and durability and feature a
surface treatment that increases surface lubricity and reduces lint and dust adhesion
3. Ear tube: The car tube is the part to which the ear tips are attached
4. Tunable diaphragm: a traditional stethoscope consists of a bell and a diaphragm. The bell
is used with light skin contact to hear low frequency sounds and the diaphragm is used with
firm skin contact to hear high frequency sounds.
5. Stem: the stem connects the stethoscope tubings to chest piece
6. Tubing: the tubing consists of 2 openings. The tubings on all Littman stethoscopes is
manufactured from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). The tubing does not contain either natural
rubber latex or dry natural rubber
7. Chest piece: the chest piece is part of the stethoscope that is placed on the location where
the user want to hear sound.

The parts of the conventional binaural stethoscope are shown in above figure. It basically consists
of chest piece which has diaphragm and bell for picking up high- and low-frequency sounds,
respectively. These sounds are transmitted as sound energy through hollow tubing which is usually
18–26 inch in length conventionally. The hollow tubing splits into a binaural which is attached to
the pair of ear pieces. When a physician uses the stethoscope to auscultate, he/she closes a circuit
where sound energy is transmitted with some minimal energy loss from the patient's chest to the
physician's ear for interpretation. Multiple variables are involved which can affect the sound
quality in a traditional acoustic stethoscope such as:
 Sound quality is usually low, especially so in obese and in patients with thick chest wall
 Any break in circuitry can dampen (e.g., air leak from hollow tubing) or sometimes cause
complete abolition of sound transmission
 Sound data obtained cannot be analyzed, processed, or utilized in any other way.

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1.2 EXISTING SYSTEM
Initial research was conducted to determine the types of heartbeats that are routinely measured
during a visit by a doctor in hospital. This is a respiration rate of breathing that can give a
total of heartbeats in heart rate per minute. One of the methods used to measure this heartbeat
is by the auscultation methods. These methods provide information about a variety of internal
body sounds originated from the heart, lungs, bowel and vascular disorders. A stethoscope is
a medical device for listening to the sound of heart and breathing in our body. The
commonlyused stethoscope is an acoustic stethoscope. The disadvantage of acoustic
stethoscope is that the sound level is very low and this stethoscope is not very suitable to use
in noisy environment as well as to detect internal sounds of babies as they are very low.
However, acoustic stethoscope is commonly used because it is cheaper than electronic
stethoscope. Electronic stethoscope electronically amplifies body sounds. As the sound
signals are transmitted electronically, it can be wireless and can provide noise reduction. The
primary aim of the proposed system is to develop and construct an electronic stethoscope
using filters and based on wireless Bluetooth using Arduino Microcontroller that will make it
easier to detect heart sound. In this project we have designed an electronic stethoscope which
will not only provide us with a better signal but can also be wireless and interfaced with
computers so that it can be further analyzed and stored for further uses. The other works are
based on the phonocardiography applications which have been focusing on both the
fundamental and abnormal heart sounds which also uses Bluetooth for wireless transmission.

A wireless digital stethoscope, which was on display at the 2018 Connected Health
Conference, is able to monitor heart and lung health by detecting murmurs and sending the
recorded sounds to clinicians in real time. For patients in rural areas who have difficulty
meeting with a cardiologist or pulmonologist, they can go to a local healthcare center and use
the wireless stethoscope with the help of providers there. The local provider would hold the
stethoscope up to the patient's chest and connect the device to a mobile phone or a tablet
installed with a clinical dashboard, from which the patient's health data and the recorded
sound can be accessed by the specialists remotely.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1Acoustic Properties of the Heart

2.1.1 Cardiac Cycle
The cardiac cycle can be defined as the synchronized activity of the atria and the Ventricles. During
the atrial and ventricular diastole:
(i) Venous (deoxygenated) blood Enters the right atrium through the superior and inferior
venae cava
(ii) Blood flows into the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve
(iii) Arterial (oxygenated) blood Flows from the lung into the left atrium
(iv) The left ventricle is filled with the arterial Blood through the mitral blood.
During the atrial systole phase, the atria begins to contract towards the end of the ventricular
diastole. During the ventricular systole phase:
(i) Venous blood moves through the pulmonary artery from the right ventricle to the lungs
foroxidation.
(ii) Arterial blood passes through the aorta from the left ventricle to the circulatory system.
The human heart consists of four valves to ensure that blood flows in only one direction through
the circulatory system. The mitral and tricuspid valves, commonly referred to as the
atrioventricular valves, guard the entrance from the atria to the ventricles. The semilunar valves
(aortic and pulmonic valves) prevent blood from flowing back into the ventricles from the aorta
and pulmonary arteries.
2.1.2 Heart Sounds
The first heart sound (S1) is caused by the closure of the atrioventricular valves. First the mitral
valve followed shortly by the tricuspid valve. The closure of the aortic valve, closely followed by
the pulmonary valve closure, causes the second heart sound(S2).

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 Figure 2.1: The blood flow through the four valves of the heart
The first and second heart sounds occur within a frequency range of 20Hz to 175Hz. Rangayyan
and Lehner (1987) however discovered that S1 contained peaks in low frequency range (10-50Hz)
and medium frequency range (50-140Hz), whilst S2 was found to contain peaks in a lower
frequency range (10 to 80Hz), medium-frequency range (80-200Hz) and high-frequency range
(220-400Hz).
The third (S3) and fourth (S4) heart sounds are the result of passive ventricular filling (early
diastole) and active ventricular filling sound (late diastole) respectively. The third and fourth heart
sounds occur between 20Hz and 70Hz. The presence of S3 and S4 may suggest heart
abnormalities, and therefore should be examined carefully.

13
 Figure 2.2: The four valves of the heart

There are various other heart sounds that may indicate an abnormality. Suchheart sounds include
clicks, pops and ejection sounds. Ejection sounds may becaused by a diseased aortic and
pulmonary valve. An abnormal or stenosis mitralor tricuspid valve may result in an opening snap
or click. RangayyanandLehner (1987) discovered that some murmurs can occur at frequencies up
to 600Hz

Figure 2.3: Frequencies of common heart and lung sounds

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Under normal heart conditions, there are basically two heart sounds, S1 and S2, shown in Fig.2.4;
S1 sound corresponds to the near simultaneous closure of the mitral and tricuspid valves after
blood has returned from the body and lungs. This is the start of systole. The S2 sound, indicating
the end of systole and the beginning of diastole, is created by the closing of the aortic and pulmonic
valves as blood exists the heart to the body and lungs. Electrocardiogram are often used in many
medical service centers and hospitalsto diagnose and monitor a patient’s health status by measuring
their cardiac activity.

Fig 2.4

2.2 Stethoscopes currently in use

Attempts have been made to take thestethoscope at the IT age, but the success has so far been
limited. A selection ofstethoscopes from different eras is presented in Fig.1.1.1. In modern health
care,auscultation has found its primary role in primary health care or in-home healthcare, when
deciding which patients need special care. The most important bodysounds are heart sounds and
lung sounds, but sounds from swallowing, micturition,muscles and arteries are also of clinical
relevance. The main sources for productionof body sounds are acceleration or deceleration of
organs or fluids, friction rubsand turbulent ow of fluids or gases.The auscultatory skills amongst
physicians demonstrate a negative trend. Theloss has occurred despite new teaching aids such as
multimedia tutorials, and thereasons are the availability of new diagnostic tools such as
echocardiography andmagnetic resonance imaging, a lack of confidence and increased concern

15
aboutlitigations. The art of auscultation is often described as quite difficult, partlybecause of the
fact that only a portion of the cardio hemic vibrations are audiblesee Fig. 2.5.50-80% of the
population has murmurs during childhood, whereas only about1% of the murmurs are
pathological. With the growing acceptance of telehealth (remote diagnosis) and electronic
stethoscope technologies, the acquisition and graphical display of heart and lung sounds may prove
to be beneficial for rural and regional medical services.

Figure 2.5: The frequency content of heart sounds and murmurs in relation to thehuman
threshold of Audibility. Note that without amplification,the area representing the audible part of
the phonocardiograph signal is verysmall.

The benefits of a wireless stethoscope are numerous: Heart and lung soundscan be transferred to
a PC, laptop or mobile phone for further analysis without cables. The patient and practitioner are
free to move without hindrance andare safe from potentially fatal voltage sources that may be
present on a devicethat is not properly isolated.Thetime-frequency analysis of auscultation
signals has been proven to be a powerfuldiagnosis tool for the segmentation of heart and lung
sound components an identification of abnormal heart sounds including systolic murmurs and
ventricularseptal defects.

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The key objective of this project is to capture heart sounds from an electronic stethoscope and
transmit the data to a desktop PC for display.
Chapter 3

3.1 Motivation
Heart auscultation, the process of interpreting the sounds produced by the heart, is a fundamental
tool in the diagnosis of cardiac disease. It serves as the most commonly employed technique in
primary health care and in circumstances, where sophisticated medical equipment is not available
(such as remote areas or developing countries). However, detecting relevant symptoms and
forming a diagnosis based on sounds heard through a stethoscope is a skill that can take years to
acquire and refine. Part of this difficulty stems from the fact that heart sounds are often separated
from one another by less than a period of 30 milliseconds. In addition, the signals characterizing
cardiac disorders typically have far less energy than normal heart sounds. This makes the task of
acoustically detecting abnormal activity a challenge. Even once the ability to perform auscultation
is acquired, there is no organized way to impart it to others. The percentage of programs
thatincorporate structured teaching of auscultation is only 27.1 % forinternal medicine and 37.1 %
for cardiology.This constitutes a further challenge to learning how to listen to heart sounds.It
would be advantageous if the benefits of auscultation could be obtained with areduced learning
curve, using equipment that is low-cost, robust and easy to use.The impact of the success of such
an effort can be understood in light of the factthat contemporary “gold standard” tests are
expensive and often unnecessary. Infact, as many as 80% of patients referred to cardiologists have
only benign heartmurmurs or normal heart sounds. These cases represent a severe inefficiency
asfar as medical care is concerned, since the cost of a visit to a cardiologist (includingassociated
echocardiography) runs anywhere from $300 to $1000 in the UnitedStates and 1000 to 2000 rupees
in India. Such false positives also constitute asignificant waste of time for both patients and
cardiologists, and also the source ofmuch unnecessary emotional anxiety for patients and their
families. In additionto this, there are also many forms of heart disease that remain asymptomatic,
andthereby undetected, for several years until they eventually deteriorate into seriousmedical
disorders.

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3.2 Problem Statement
Stethoscopes which are currently in the market are acoustic devices that use purely passive
mechanical parts to isolate and focus sound generated by the body. The simplicity of such devices
is overshadowed by poor sound quality. These devicesare also difficult to interface with modern
technologies such as computers to recordand analyze body sounds.

3.3 Objective
To Design and Develop an electronic stethoscope that is comparable in cost, hasbetter acoustic
response, and can interface with modern technologies better thanthe current acoustic stethoscope.

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Chapter 4: Hardware and Software Design

4.1 System Block Diagram

Fig 4.1: System Flow

4.2 System Design

4.2.1 Sensor
A transducer is a device that converts input energy of one form into output energyof another form.
For example, a microphone is a sensor that converts sound energy(in the form of pressure) into
electrical energy, while a loudspeaker is an actuatorthat converts electrical energy into sound
energy.Microphones and accelerometers are the natural choice of sensor when recording
sound.These sensors have a high-frequency response that is quite adequate forbody sounds. Rather,
it is the low-frequency region that might cause problems.The microphone is an air coupled sensor
that measure pressure waves induced by chest-wall movements while accelerometers are contact
sensors which directly measures chest-wall movements. For recording of body sounds, both kinds
can be used.

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 Table 4.1: Sensor Design Matrix
Electret Dynamic Piezo Film Preference
Condenser Microphone
Microphone
Cost LOW LOW HIGH ECM
Sensitivity HIGH LOW HIGH Piezo/ ECM
Size SMALL LARGE SMALL Piezo/ ECM
Simplicity/ YES/LESS NO/HIGH NO/HIGH ECM
Circuitrequirement
Operating 20-20K Hz 50 -20K Hz 10Hz-20K Hz Piezo/ ECM
Frequency

Capacitor microphones, where the induced vibration of a metalized Mylar film(forming one plate
of a capacitor) changes the capacitance between it and a fixedplate, inducing a change in the
capacitor voltage under conditions of constantcharge.
Crystal or piezoelectric microphones, in which air-coupled sound pressure vibrates a piezo crystal,
directly generating a voltage proportional to (dp/dt), wherep is the sound pressure at the
microphone.
Electret microphones are variable capacitor sensors in which one plate has apermanent
electrostatic charge on it, while the moving plate varies the capacitance, inducing a voltage which
is amplified.
Table 4.2: ECM microphone location
Inside Tubing Inside Diaphragm
Fidelity HIGH LOW
Stability/Portability LOW HIGH
Aesthetics LOW HIGH
Multi functionality HIGH LOW
Safety HIGH LOW

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 Preference HIGH LOW

4.2.2 Signal Conditioning

Sensor signals are often incompatible with data acquisition hardware. To overcomethis
incompatibility, the sensor signal must be conditioned. The type of signalconditioning required
depends on the sensor you are using. This sound signalis of very low amplitude and cannot be
detected clearly so, sensors output ispre-amplified first and then processed by suitable filters.

Sensor:
An electret is a stable dielectric material with a permanently embeddedstatic electric charge. Here,
we used ECM for recording of signal. An electretcondenser microphone (ECM) consists of a very
light diaphragm (moving plate)and back plate (stationary or static plate) and has a permanent
charge implantedin an electret material to provide polarizing voltage.

21
 Figure 4.2: Block diagram of signal conditioning circuit

The principle of operation isthat sound waves impinging on the diaphragm cause the capacitance
between itand the back plate to change synchronously, this in turn induces an AC voltageon the
back plate. The microphone was inserted into the focus of a stethoscopeto acquire Heart sounds.

Figure 4.3: Complete assembly of a chest piece

Preamplifier + Buffer Circuit:
The preamplifier is used to increase the low-signal from the microphone to line-level for further
amplification. This is accomplished by providing a voltage gainfrom the microphone to the circuit.
Two resistors are to provide bias current forthe electret microphone internal FET. The bias voltage
around 1 to 10V is neededto supply the built in FET buffer. We have used TL074c operation
amplifier foramplification and buffer circuit. The low harmonic distortion and low noise makethe
TL074 ideally suited for high fidelity and audio preamplifier applications.It’s a four op-amp based
single monolithic chip and each amplifier features JFETinputs (for high input impedance) coupled
with bipolar output stages.A buffer amplifier also called a voltage follower, is useful when want
to provide a high current drive stage, match impedance or electricity isolate the signal.Current
from the microphone is very low 0.55mA. Therefore, buffer amplifier isto provide a high current
drive to next stage. Besides, it also used to drive heavyloads, solve impedance, matching problems
or isolated high-power circuit for sensitivity and precise circuitry. Buffer amplifier is unity
feedback. The gain is equalto one.
V+ = V-
V+ = V in, V- = V out Therefore, V in = V out
Microphone output is low around 0.1- 0.2 V for heart sounds so we need gainof 5 by selecting non
inverting amplifier
Gain = (1+ Rf/R1)

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 Where, Rf = feedback resistor, R1 = input resistance

Filter Design:
A low-pass filter is provided to remove high-frequency noise and also to act asan anti-aliasing
filter. Since a Sigma-Delta ADC (Codec) is chosen, requirementson the analog anti-aliasing filters
are minimal. This is because over samplingrelaxes the requirements on the base-band anti-aliasing
filter; therefore, a simpleSecond order active low-pass filter is sufficient.

Figure 4.4: Second order Low pass analog filter design

Audio power Amplifier:

The LM386 is a power amplifier designed for use in low voltage audio applications.It has Voltage
gains from 20 to 200. Potentiometer is used as a volumecontrol.

4.2.3 Analog to Digital Converter(ADC)

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 Fig 4.5 ADC
An analog to digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal,
such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a digital signal.
An ADC may also provide an isolated measurement such as an electronic device that converts an
input analog voltage or current to a digital number representing the magnitude of the voltage or
current. Typically the digital output is a two's complement binary number that is proportional to
the input, but there are other possibilities.

An ADC converts a continuous-time and continuous-amplitude analog signal to a discrete-

time and discrete-amplitude digital signal. The conversion involves quantization of the input, so it
necessarily introduces a small amount of error or noise. Furthermore, instead of continuously
performing the conversion, an ADC does the conversion periodically, sampling the input, limiting
the allowable bandwidth of the input signal.

Analog and digital signals operate differently from each other. Analog signals are used when
creating, storing, or transmitting data of varying frequency. In general, analog technology works
by deliberately varying the strength or amplitude of a signal. Analog technology translates audio
sounds, such as the human voice, into electronic pulses. Telephone, radio and television are some
examples of industries that have traditionally used analog technology.
Digital signals, on the other hand, are associated with a type of technology that creates, maintains,
and transmits data in positive or negative states. The number zero represents a non-positive state
while the number one indicates a positive state. When digital data is transmitted or stored, the
action is expressed as a binary string of ones and zeros. Digital technology is often used for newer
24
types of media, like HDTV, direct broadcast satellites, or fiber optic transmissions. Devices based
on digital technology usually have less unwanted noise, and they allow users to easily store large
amounts of data.

Fig 4.6 Input and output voltages to an ADC

ADC Architectures
There are many popular ADC architectures such as successive approximation register (SAR),
Delta-Sigma (∆∑) and Pipeline converters. The SAR turns an input analog signal into a digital
one by "holding" the signal. This means searching the continuous analog waveform through a

25
binary search that looks through all possible quantization levels before finding a digital output
for each conversion.
Quantization is a method of mapping a large set of input values from a continuous waveform
tooutput values that are fewer in number. The SAR ADCs are generally easy to use with lower
power use and high accuracy.
Delta-Sigma designs find the average of the sample over the time that it uses as the input digital
signal. The average over the difference in time of the signal itself is represented using the Greek
symbols delta (∆) and sigma (∑), giving it its name. This method of ADCs has a high resolution
and high stability with low power use and cost.
Finally, Pipeline converters use two stages that "hold" it like SAR methods and send the signal
through various step such as flash ADCs and attenuators. A flash ADC compares each input
voltage signal over a small sample of time to a reference voltage to create a binary digital
output. Pipeline signals are generally at higher bandwidths, but with lower resolution and need
more power to run.
We will prefer the Quantization Architecture for this project.

4.2.4 Micro Controller

8051

The Intel 8051 is an 8-bit microcontroller which means that most available operations are limited
to 8 bits. There are 3 basic "sizes" of the 8051: Short, Standard, and Extended. The Short and
Standard chips are often available in DIP (dual in-line package) form, but the Extended 8051
models often have a different form factor, and are not "drop-in compatible". All these things are
called 8051 because they can all be programmed using 8051 assembly language, and they all share
certain features (although the different models all have their own special features).

26
Some of the features of 8051 are:

 4 KB on chip program memory.

 128 bytes on chip data memory(RAM)
o 32 bytes devoted to register banks
o 16 bytes of bit-addressable memory
o 80 bytes of general-purpose memory
 4 reg banks.
 128 user defined software flags.
 8-bit data bus
 16-bit address bus
 16-bit timers (usually 2, but may have more, or less).
 3 internal and 2 external interrupts.
 Bit as well as byte addressable RAM area of 16 bytes.
 Four 8-bit ports, (short models have two 8-bit ports).
 16-bit program counter and data pointer.
 1 Microsecond instruction cycle with 12 MHz Crystal.
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Arduino

Arduino is an open source, computer hardware and software company, project, and user
community that designs and manufactures microcontroller kits for building digital devices and
interactive objects that can sense andcontrol objects in the physical world.
Arduino microcontrollers are pre-programmed with a boot loader that simplifies uploading of
programs to theon-chip flash memory. The default boot loader of the Arduino UNO is the
Optibootloader. Boards are loaded withprogram code via a serial connection to another computer.
Some serial Arduino boards contain a level shifter circuit toconvert between RS-232 logic levels
and transistor–transistor logic (TTL) level signals.A program for Arduino may be written in any
programming language for a compiler that produces binaryachine code for the target processor.

The ArduinoUno is an open source microcontroller board based on

the Microchip ATmega328P microcontroller and developed by Arduino. The board is equipped
with sets of digital and analog input/output (I/O) pins that may be interfaced to various expansion
boards (shields) and other circuits.The board has 14 digital I/O pins (six capable of PWM output),
6 analog I/O pins, and is programmable with the Arduino IDE (Integrated Development
Environment), via a type B USB cable. It can be powered by the USB cable or by an external 9-
volt battery, though it accepts voltages between 7 and 20 volts. It is also similar to the Arduino
Nano and Leonardo. The hardware reference design is distributed under a Creative

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Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 license and is available on the Arduino website. Layout and
production files for some versions of the hardware are also available.

The word "uno" means "one" Spanish and was chosen to mark the initial release of Arduino
Software. The Uno board is the first in a series of USB-based Arduino boards; it and version 1.0
of the Arduino IDE were the reference versions of Arduino, which have now evolved to newer
releases. The ATmega328 on the board comes preprogrammed with a bootloader that allows
uploading new code to it without the use of an external hardware programmer.

While the Uno communicates using the original STK500 protocol, it differs from all preceding
boards in that it does not use the FTDI USB-to-serial driver chip. Instead, it uses the Atmega16U2
(Atmega8U2 up to version R2) programmed as a USB-to-serial converter.

4.3.LCD

A 16x2 LCD is interfaced with microcontroller to show the heart beats per minute (HBM). A
16x2 LCD means it can display 16 characters per line and there are two such lines and in this
LCD each character is displayed in 5x7 pixel matrix. In this LCD there are two registers namely,
Command and Data. PORT B of microcontroller is connected with the data port of the LCD.
Figure 4 showing the LCD interfacing and pin allocation with microcontroller.

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 Figure 4. LCD interfacing circuit

RF Transmitter: An RF transmitter module is a small PCB sub-assembly capable of transmitting

a radio wave and modulating that wave to carry data. Transmitter modules are usually implemented
alongside a micro controller which will provide data to the module which can be transmitted.

RF Receiver: An RF receiver module receives the modulated RF signal, and demodulates it. There
are two types of RF receiver modules: super- heterodyne receivers and super-regenerative
receivers. Super-regenerative modules are usually low cost and low power designs using a series
of amplifiers to extract modulated data from a carrier wave. Super-regenerative modules are
generally imprecise as their frequency of operation varies considerably with temperature and
power supply voltage I.

Fig 5: RF Transmitter and RF receiver

RS 232:

RS-232 is a standard for serial Communication transmission of data. It formally defines the signals
connecting between a DTE (data terminal equipment) such as a computer terminal, and a DCE
(data circuitterminating equipment or data communication equipment), such as a modem. The RS-
232 standard is commonly used in computerserial ports. RS-232 devices may be classified as Data
Terminal Equipment (DTE) or Data Circuit-terminating Equipment (DCE); this defines at each
device which wires will be sending and receiving each signal. According to the standard, male
connectors have DTE pin functions, and female connectors have DCE pin functions. Other devices

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may have any combination of connector gender and pin definitions. Many terminals were
manufactured with female connectors but were sold with a cable with male connectors at each end;
the terminal with its cable satisfied the recommendations in the standard.

4.4 DESIGNING

The first stage of this is to develop a model circuit for the stethoscope which is capable of catching
the internal sounds of the body, filtering out unwanted signals, amplify the signal and give the
conditioned signal for the output. Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform
based on flexible, simple microcontroller board. The development hardware is easy to use with
software writing in the board. For this project by taking an input signal it controls a amplifier and
the RF Transmitter. An important feature of the Arduino is that one can create a control program
on the host PC download it to the Arduino and it will run automatically. . Arduino UNO Referring
to figure4, this project used Arduino Uno as a microcontroller to receive data and then transfer it
through RF Transmitter for wireless communications. The arduino board is powered by a 5V DC
power supply and the output from the amplifier is sent to the input pin of the arduino module. This
arduino module is interfaced with RF transmitter. The signal is modulated and transmitter
wirelessly through RF transmitter. The signal is received by the RF receiver and demodulated. The
signal is stored in PC and the disease can be identified by the predefined data bases.

4.5 SOFTWARE METHOD

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Software that is needed to control this wireless stethoscope system can be monitored and analyzed
the heartbeats by the doctors or physician. The system that is used for this method is capturing the
input signal in voltage that is from microphone and then being read by the software programming
system to convert from analog signal to digital signal for final result in the development of wireless
stethoscope. Embedded c Embedded C Programming is the soul of the processor functioning inside
each and every embedded system we come across in our daily life, such as mobile phone, washing
machine, and digital camera. Embedded C language is most frequently used to program the
microcontroller.

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5.Advantages and Disadvantages:

Digital stethoscopes have a number of advantages over traditional stethoscopes such as being
able to amplify the sounds received through the stethoscopes head and the ability to observe
those sounds through a visual display.These stethoscopes are great for individuals who work in
specialized fields such as cardiology or those who have difficulty hearing through regular
stethoscopes.

The ability to amplify and adjust listening frequencies makes digital stethoscope an excellent
tool when a medical professional is in need of quick and precise medical readings.

Depending on the digital stethoscope that is used the features and capabilities of the stethoscope
can vary, however the most common features available on most digital stethoscopes include
sound amplification and the ability to adjust the listening frequency.

There are a number of advantages to using a digital stethoscope such as:

 Amplified sound output: Digital stethoscopes are capable of increasing/amplifying the

sounds they receive, which makes it easier and faster for medical specialists to detect and
determine a patients medical condition.

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 Enhanced frequency range: Digital stethoscopes allow the user to adjust the frequency
range they are listening out for, which allows them to detect a wide range medical issues
that generate their own sounds.

 Ambient noise reduction: Some stethoscopes may be capable of reducing outside ambient
noise so that the user can listen to patient sounds more clearly.

 Record & replay functionality: Being able to record data and replay it back means users
can show their patients what they are listening to and save data that can be transferred to
the patients medical records at a later time.

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  Reduced time for accurate readings : By being able to amplify sounds and tune into
specific frequencies increases the speed at which a medical professional can determine a
patients physical health.

 Visual display: It allows the medical professional to see on a digital display what they are
listening to through their headphones, and may help them further detect the things they
may / may not notice through the auditory channel.

While digital stethoscopes come with a number of advantages over traditional stethoscopes they
are not without their disadvantages.

To begin with digital stethoscopes are typically heavier and less mobile than non digital ones and
they require batteries to function properly.Digital stethoscopes are also very costly when
compared to other stethoscopes and their additional functionality may not be needed within most
healthcare specialties.Lastly, some individuals feel that these stethoscopes may be affected by
other digital frequencies such as cell phones, pagers and other devices that emit digital signals.

Digital stethoscopes have a number of disadvantages including:

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  Heavier & less mobile: Because digital stethoscopes require more components and
electronics they are typically less mobile and heavier, which can make them difficult to
carry around throughout the day when a high level of mobility is needed.

 Requires batteries or an digital source: Many digital stethoscopes require a power source
to work correctly and without electricity they will be completely non functional devices.

 Higher cost: Digital stethoscopes can be extremely pricey costing hundreds of dollars,
which makes them less than ideal for most career fields that do not need the additional
functionality of digital stethoscopes.

 More opportunities to be damaged: Digital stethoscopes are electronic devices, which

means they can be damaged more easily than non digital ones. Medical professionals that
move around a lot may not want to invest in a stethoscope that can break easily if not taken
care of.

 Digital interference: Digital stethoscopes may be susceptible to digital interference by

other devices. This will usually depend on the individual stethoscope, however a high
quality digital stethoscope shouldn’t have many issues with this problem.

Digital stethoscopes do have a number of advantages, which makes them extremely useful for
certain specialties that can benefit from the added functionality, however they also have
disadvantages that may make other medical professionals less than interested in purchasing one
for their particular needs.

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6.CONCLUSION AND FUTURE

Nearly all medical personnel actively involved in the treatment and diagnosis of patients use
stethoscopes on a daily basis. Stethoscopes are used for pulse measuring, blood pressure
monitoring, and diagnosis of cardiovascular, respiratory, and digestive diseases. This project is our
effort towards designing of an electronic stethoscope which with computers and other display
devices easily but is also cost effective and easy to use. We have used the simplest components
known so that the designing of this stethoscope can be universal and have simulated it thorough
embedded c software which is rather simple software to work on. So considering the widespread
use of stethoscopes for diagnostic purposes we hope the stethoscope we have designed to be a
success keeping in mind its advantages over the acoustic and other bulky stethoscopes now being
used. The various advantages which this stethoscope has over others are:

a. This provides for better noise cancellation so a better signal is obtained.

b. It is very easy to be implemented both in terms of software and hardware.

c. It is rather compact and portable.

d. It is very cost effective.

e. A heart beat can be recorded and analyzed later on.

In future, use of different de-noising techniques like, wavelet based de-

noising and use of adaptive filters to minimize signal errors for better advancement in future of
cardiac auscultation.Smartphone stethoscope apps review results With the rapid development of
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smartphone technology, mobile health (mHealth) can support daily practice for health services
and information. The mHealth applications include the use of mobile devices in collecting clinical
health data, delivery of healthcare information to practitioners, researchers and patients, real-time
monitoring of patient vital signs and direct provision of care (via mobile telemedicine)

Embedded digital stethoscope is designed and simulated by using an embedded processor.

With the help of PC connectivity, system can also store data and replay for further analysis and
consultation. It will help to improve the accuracy of the cardiovascular diseases diagnosis. With
the help of PC connectivity, system can also store data and replay for further analysis and
consultation. It will help to improve the accuracy of the cardiovascular diseases diagnosis. In
future, network of multiple transmitters and receivers can be form by using zigbee PRO.
When there will be more transmitters, it means diagnosis of heart sound from multiple patients
can be possible. As there will be more than one receiver, more than one physician can hear heart
sound at a time. It will increase accuracy of diagnosis.

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39