In a rapidly evolving future healthcare system, the electronic stethoscope and associated portable technologies offer the potential to be the valuable tools beyond measure, as a comprehensive diagnostic kit. Most heart diseases are associated with and reflected by the sounds that the heart produces. Heart auscultation, defined as listening to the heart sound (HS), has been a very important method for the early diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction. Traditional auscultation requires substantial clinical experience and good listening skills.
The emergence of the electronic stethoscope has paved the way for a new field of computer-aided auscultation. Therefore, it is very important to have a cost effective and accurate method for the early detection of cardiac illnesses. Despite the advantages of low cost and easy operation, auscultation of the heart has been traditionally limited by three…
