Phonocardiographic Signal Processing

Phonocardiography and auscultation are noninvasive,§low-cost and accurate methods for assessing heart§disease. However, diagnosis by auscultation requires§great experience and there is considerable§inter-observer variation. The primary aim of this§book is to present objective signal processing tools§able to extract information from the§phonocardiographic (PCG) signal. The PCG signal is§traditionally analyzed and characterized by§morphological properties in the time domain, by§spectral properties in the frequency domain or by§nonstationary properties in a joint time-frequency§domain. Besides reviewing these techniques, this book§also covers recent advancements in nonlinear PCG§signal analysis. Especially, Takens'' delay embedding§theorem is used to reconstruct the underlying§system''s state space. This processing step provides a§geometrical interpretation of the signal''s dynamics,§whose structure can be used for both system§characterization and classification as well as for§signal processing tasks such as detection and§prediction. In a world where modern health care is§striving for time- and cost-contained point-of-care§testing, it is now time to bring phonocardiography up§to date.