Software enhanced learning of cardiac auscultation

Listening to heart sounds during physical exams can offer useful clues to the presence of cardiac disease. Cardiac auscultation is non-invasive, inexpensive and fast. It is also highly unreliable, and requires good hearing and considerable expertise. In this paper, we describe an audio-visital tool designed to help people learn to be better at cardiac auscultation. The use of digital signal processing techniques makes pathological findings more recognizable in both audio and visual representations. This reduces dependence on the ability of people to hear relevant information.