Self-Powered Wearable Cardiac Stethoscope for Real-Time Monitoring Heart Failure

Abstract

Heart failure has a high rate of morbidity and mortality, and the number of the patients all over the world has dramatically increased in recent years. Continuous and long-term cardiac monitoring is particularly important for early diagnosis and prevention. In this work, a new self-powered wearable cardiac stethoscope based on piezoelectric effect of PVDF film for real-time monitoring heart failure has been realized. The device can be easily attached to the skin and convert tiny vibration of human organs into electric signals without any external power supply (powered by the mechanical energy of the organ activity). By Fourier transform analysis, the piezoelectric output of the device can indicate the physiological status information of heart. Meanwhile, the sensing capabilities of the device is investigated on different parts of the body and the volunteers with different ages. The stethoscope achieves high sensitivity, real-time monitoring, and mechanical stability. This self-powered wearable cardiac stethoscope can broaden the application scenarios of the nanogenerators and promote the development of medical science and healthcare industry.