Wearable sensor for continuous monitoring of tissue mechanics

A system comprising:

• a transducer for transmitting acoustic waves;
• a wearable device comprising:
• an elastically compliant body having a side for attaching to skin of a patient;
• a plurality of accelerometers for receiving acoustic wave data from acoustic waves transmitted by a transducer, wherein a distance between each accelerometer of the plurality of accelerometers is predetermined;
• a short-range radio transmitter for transmitting the acoustic wave data to a computing device;
• a processor for receiving the acoustic wave data from the plurality of accelerometers and providing the acoustic wave data to the short-range radio transmitter;
• and
• a battery for providing power to the processor, the plurality of accelerometers, and the short-range radio transmitter,
• wherein the processor, the plurality of accelerometers, the short-range radio transmitter, and the battery are embedded within the elastically compliant body;
• and
• one or more storage media having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processing system, direct the processing system to at least:
• store, at a computing device, a model of a wearable device having a plurality of accelerometers, the model comprising a distance value between each accelerometer of the plurality of accelerometers;
• send, from the computing device, a signal to a transducer to transmit acoustic waves into a body;
• receive, over a wireless protocol from the wearable device, acoustic wave data captured from the acoustic waves transmitted into the body;
• measure a phase lag of the acoustic wave data;
• determine a frequency-dependent phase velocity from the acoustic wave data based on the measured phase lag and the distance value between each accelerometer of the plurality of accelerometers of the wearable device;
• determine a shear wave velocity based on the frequency-dependent phase velocity and a predetermined incompressible mass density;
• determine tissue stiffness of tissue in the body that the acoustic waves pass through based on the shear wave velocity;
• and
• cause to display the determined tissue stiffness in a graphical user interface of the computing device.

A method comprising:

• storing, at a computing device, a model of a wearable device having a plurality of accelerometers, the model comprising a distance value between each accelerometer of the plurality of accelerometers;
• sending, from the computing device, a signal to a transducer to transmit acoustic waves into a body;
• receiving, over a wireless protocol from the wearable device, acoustic wave data captured from the acoustic waves transmitted into the body;
• measuring a phase lag of the acoustic wave data;
• determining a frequency-dependent phase velocity from the acoustic wave data based on the measured phase lag and the distance value between each accelerometer of the plurality of accelerometers of the wearable device;
• determining a shear wave velocity based on the frequency-dependent phase velocity and a predetermined incompressible mass density;
• determining tissue stiffness of tissue in the body that the acoustic waves pass through based on the shear wave velocity;
• and
• causing to display the determined tissue stiffness in a graphical user interface of the computing device.