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Human pulse wave detection with consumer earphones and headphones

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Abstract

Dynamic earphones/headphones and microphones can detect sounds below the human audible frequency. Based on this principle, we propose a new method of human pulse measurement using consumer earphones and headphones. It is a simple signal separation-based method utilizing pressure changes inside the ear canal and around the tragus caused by heartbeats. As a result of feasibility evaluation using an electrocardiogram, the pulses derived by the earphone/headphone were highly feasible in terms of accurate peak-to-peak determination. Furthermore, we estimated the frequency characteristics of the audio devices at the frequency of interest, the center frequency of the heart rate (around 1.4 Hz), which enables us to reproduce the original, non-distorted pulse waveform. Although this is an entirely different methodology from photoplethysmography, it is promising because heart rate can be measured while listening to music.

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Data availability

The data supporting this study′s findings are available from the corresponding author, S.N., upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Niigata, Japan

    Xing Yi, Samith S. Herath, Hiroki Kuroda, Kosuke Oiwa & Shusaku Nomura

  2. SaLusTek Inc., Zushi, Kanagawa, Japan

    Hiroshi Ogawa

Authors
  1. Xing Yi
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  2. Samith S. Herath
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  3. Hiroshi Ogawa
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  4. Hiroki Kuroda
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  5. Kosuke Oiwa
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  6. Shusaku Nomura
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shusaku Nomura.

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This work was submitted and accepted for the Journal Track of the joint symposium of the 29th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, the 9th International Symposium on BioComplexity, and the 7th International Symposium on Swarm Behavior and Bio-Inspired Robotics (Beppu, Oita and Online, January 24–26, 2024).

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Yi, X., Herath, S.S., Ogawa, H. et al. Human pulse wave detection with consumer earphones and headphones. Artif Life Robotics 29, 22–28 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-023-00933-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-023-00933-4

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