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Smart headphones used to measure Pulse Transit Time (PTT) and Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV)

Develop headphones that use a microphone and a smartwatch to measure PTT and PWV to assess someone's cardiac health.

Project Overview

Current devices like blood pressure cuffs already exist to measure blood pressure but require manual usage typically and are not continuous in their recording of blood pressure over long periods of time. Smart watches alone are capable of tracking pulse, but they tend to remain inaccurate in their overall tracking analysis. To solve this issue, an over the ear headphone design that utilized a microphone to listen to the user’s heartbeat was utilized. This device would be capable of measuring the pulse transit time via the time between the recording of the heartbeat and the pulse being picked up by a connected smartwatch via bluetooth. Initial testing of the prototype would utilize three methods. The first would track the microphone's ability to cancel out outside noises in order to focus on the sound of the heartbeat, the second would then see how well data collection is when compared to a blood pressure cuff in order to determine accuracy. The intended results should thus display the headset being capable of ignoring outside noise and being able to listen and track blood pressure levels in a similar accuracy to that of blood pressure cuffs. Intended results should show little to no variance data blood pressure tracking between headphones and existing devices as well as efficiently ignoring outside noises.

Team Picture

From left to right: Mark Rice, Rachel Nossen, Kyle Everson, Carson Endries, Ethan Hannon, Mustafa Al Sakhbouri
From left to right: Mark Rice, Rachel Nossen, Kyle Everson, Carson Endries, Ethan Hannon, Mustafa Al Sakhbouri

Files

Contact Information

Team Members

  • Ethan Hannon - Team Leader
  • Rachel Nossen - Communicator
  • Carson Endries - BSAC
  • Kyle Everson - Co-BWIG
  • Mustafa Al Sakhbouri - Co-BWIG
  • Mark Rice - BPAG

Advisor and Client

  • Prof. Justin Williams - Advisor
  • Dr. Jeffrey Koziol - Client
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