# US 2013/0158435 A1 · Bioacoustic processing apparatus and bioacoustic processing method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2013/0158435 A1 - Document ID: US20130158435A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/819,782 - Filed: 2012-03-09 - Published: 2013-06-20 - Earliest claimed: 2011-03-25 - Assignees: Panasonic Corporation - Inventors: Mitsuru Endo; Noriaki Horii; Maki Yamada - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130158435A1 ## CPC - A61B 7/003: {Detecting lung or respiration noise} - A61B 5/7203: {for noise prevention, reduction or removal} - A61B 5/7264: {Classification of physiological signals or data, e.g. using neural networks, statistical classifiers, expert systems or fuzzy systems} - A61B 7/04: Electric stethoscopes - G16H 50/20: for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G16H: HEALTHCARE INFORMATICS, i.e. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE HANDLING OR PROCESSING OF MEDICAL OR HEALTHCARE DATA ## Abstract A bioacoustic processing apparatus capable of outputting information that represents the current state of attachment of a bioacoustic sensor. The bioacoustic processing apparatus (300), which processes acoustic signals from a bioacoustic sensor (200) attached to a body surface, comprises: a noise-extracting unit (320) for extracting the noise component contained in an acoustic signal from the acoustic signal, and a noise type classification unit (340) for classifying the extracted noise component into one of a plurality of noise types that correspond to different respective states of attachment of the bioacoustic sensor (200) and outputting information that corresponds to the results of said classification. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A bioacoustic processing apparatus that processes an acoustic signal of a bioacoustic sensor attached to a body surface, the bioacoustic processing apparatus comprising: a noise extraction section that extracts, from the acoustic signal, a noise component included in the acoustic signal; and a noise type classification section that classifies the extracted noise component according to a plurality of noise types respectively corresponding to different attachment states of the bioacoustic sensor, and that outputs information corresponding to a result of the classification. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The bioacoustic processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a breathing sound extraction section that extracts, from the acoustic signal, a breathing sound component included in the acoustic signal, wherein the attachment state comprises an attachment state of an adhesive surface of the bioacoustic sensor with respect to the body surface, and based on synchronization between the noise component and the breathing sound component, the noise type classification section classifies the noise component according to a plurality of noise types respectively corresponding to different attachment states of the adhesive surface. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The bioacoustic processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the attachment state comprises an attachment state of a lead wire that carries the acoustic signal of the bioacoustic sensor, and based on the rate of change in power of the noise component, the noise type classification section classifies the noise component according to a plurality of noise types respectively corresponding to different attachments states of the lead wire. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The bioacoustic processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the attachment state comprises: a first state where something is rubbing against the lead wire; a second state where something is in intermittent contact with the lead wire or where an air bubble is trapped under the adhesive surface; and a third state where the tension in the lead wire is high or where the adhesive strength of the adhesive surface is weak, and the noise type classification section: classifies the noise component as a noise type corresponding to the first state if the rate of change in power of the noise component is fast; classifies the noise component as a noise type corresponding to the second state if the rate of change in power of the noise component is slow and the synchronization between the noise component and the breathing sound component is low; and classifies the noise component as a noise type corresponding to the third state if the rate of change in power of the noise component is slow and the synchronization between the noise component and the breathing sound component is high. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The bioacoustic processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the attachment state comprises a fourth state where the bioacoustic sensor is appropriately attached, and the noise type classification section classifies the noise component as a noise type corresponding to the fourth state if the noise component is small in amount. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The bioacoustic processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a noise countermeasure guidance section that presents to a user information urging an improvement of the attachment state, the information corresponding to the result of the classification by the noise type classification section. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The bioacoustic processing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the noise countermeasure guidance section causes an information output apparatus, which performs at least one of an image display and audio output, to output, by at least one of image and audio, information urging an improvement of the attachment state. ### Claim 8 (depends on 2) The bioacoustic processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a noise countermeasure guidance section that presents to a user information urging an improvement of the attachment state, the information corresponding to the result of the classification by the noise type classification section. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The bioacoustic processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the noise countermeasure guidance section causes an information output apparatus, which performs at least one of an image display and audio output, to output, by at least one of image and audio, information urging an improvement of the attachment state. ### Claim 10 A bioacoustic processing method that processes an acoustic signal of a bioacoustic sensor attached to a body surface, the bioacoustic processing method comprising: extracting, from the acoustic signal, a noise component included in the acoustic signal; and classifying the extracted noise component according to a plurality of noise types respectively corresponding to different attachment states of the bioacoustic sensor, and outputting information corresponding to a result of the classification.