Wireless wearable devices for continuous monitoring of body sounds and motions

Recent reports describe advances in miniaturised, soft electronic devices designed for sensing subtle body vibrations and sounds, with additional capabilities in tracking bulk motions of the body and noises5,7–10 in the ambient environment through the use of multi-sensor designs and sound separation data analytics, respectively (Figure 1).11 As implemented with wireless strategies in time synchronisation and data communication, these small, skin-interfaced sensors enable continuous monitoring of not only sounds and motions related to respiratory and digestive activity, but also core vital signs, such as heart and respiratory rates, across multiple key body locations in both infants and adults. SPATIOTEMPORAL MONITORING OF DIGESTION IN NEONATES The sounds resulting from the movement of food, gas and fluids during intestinal peristalsis hold key information for understanding and diagnosing gastrointestinal health.14,15 In fact, they are routinely auscultated in the acute care setting as part of clinical standards, to rule out various intestinal diseases and motility disorders across different age groups. The use of real-time, automated algorithms for data analytics have potential to improve the efficiency, precision and objectivity of clinical monitoring across various health care sectors, populations and conditions. [...]the wireless, wearable nature of the BAMS devices minimises patient discomfort and facilitates remote diagnostic procedures.