Non-invasive determination of mechanical characteristics in the body

Abstract

A non-invasive system and method for inducing vibrations in a selected element of the human body and detecting the nature of responses for determining mechanical characteristics of the element are provided. The method comprises the steps of: inducing multiple-frequency vibrations, including below 20 KHz, in a selected element of the body by use of a driver; determining parameters of the vibration exerted on the body by the driver; sensing variations of a dimension of the element of the body over time, including in response to the driver; correlating the variations with frequency components of operation of the driver below 20 KHz to determine corresponding frequency components of the variations; resolving the frequency components into components of vibration mode shape; and determining the mechanical characteristics of the element on the basis of the parameters of vibration exerted by the driver and of the components of vibration mode shape.

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