A DSP breath sound analyser

The growing availability of powerful digital signal processors (DSPs) makes possible the real-time analysis of almost all common biological signals. The authors consider the spectral analysis of breath sounds, which may provide an objective and quantitative assessment of the respiratory pathology in patients with pulmonary disorders. The authors propose a breath-sound analyzer consisting of a pick-up accelerometer, a real-time FFT (fast Fourier transform) analyzer, and an interface with a general-purpose personal computer. The spectra of normal and pathological breath sounds were analyzed for validation of the apparatus.<>