Using EKG signals for virtual pathology stethoscope tracking in standardized patient heart auscultation

Standardized patients (SPs) have been widely used in medical education to improve the clinical skills of medical practitioners. SPs are trained to realistically portray real patients with specific illnesses and conditions. We have been using augmented standardized patients (ASPs) to extend the capabilities of SPs by utilizing medical instruments that can emplace virtual pathology to enhance the experience and variety of symptoms that medical students can encounter with the otherwise healthy SPs. In this paper, we describe a realistic tracking method for virtual pathology stethoscopes that provide an efficient and cost effective method for placing virtual symptoms in correct auscultation locations. The tracking method involves analyzing and processing EKG signals of the heart which can be implemented in augmented stethoscopes for the presentation of normal and abnormal cardiac diseases.