Electronic stethoscope system and method

Abstract

A microprocessor based sound enhancement system in which frequencies outside of the auditory range of the human ear are translated into sound within the auditory range by translating each frequency component of the entire frequency spectrum of the input signal by a time scale compression factor. Preferably, a microprocessor transforms an electrical signal corresponding to the input signal into a frequency spectrum signal comprising frequency components having frequency, phase, and amplitude elements by performing a fast Fourier transform (FFT) operation on the input signal. The frequency components of this transformed signal are translated and the resulting translated frequency spectrum signal is transformed into a time varying output signal by performing an inverse FFT operation on the translated frequency spectrum signal. When heart pulses or similar periodic waveforms are monitored, the pulse rate of the signal is maintained in the output signal. Alternatively, the time varying signal is compressed in the time scale and then transformed into audible sound, while maintaining the original pulse rate in the output signal, thereby resulting in the same output signal as that resulting from translating the entire frequency spectrum by the time scale compression factor.