Identifying Heart Sound Sources through Multi-Channel Acquisition and a 3-D Model

A method of identifying heart sound sources is proposed through a multi-channel synchronous acquisition method and a 3-D model. Many kinds of sound localization methods were used to discover a method suitable for heart sounds. Electronic heart sound sensors were used to record real signals from subjects who were healthy under normal environment. A multi-channel synchronous acquisition method is proposed to remove the error of time delay between the heart sound sensors which are used to record heart sound signals. It is emphasized that the same components of the heart sound should be identified correctly through the physiological characters and reference signals such as ECG. A 3-D model is established to improve the previous models, most of which were used in a 2-D plane. Heart sound sources are identified in a 3-D right-angle reference frame using the coordinates (x, y, z) that can be computed from the equations.