Detection of features of prosthetic cardiac valve sound by spectrogram analysis

Prosthetic cardiac valve sounds are thought to be useful for evaluating valve function. In a previous report, we showed that a stethoscope with a small microphone inserted in its tube could be used to record mechanical cardiac valve sounds in daily medical care. In this study, we used such a stethoscope to record prosthetic cardiac valve sounds and analyzed the sounds by spectrogram. The results indicated that mechanical cardiac valve sounds are well characterized by the high frequency components of the spectrogram. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.