Flexible, wearable mechano-acoustic sensors for body sound monitoring applications

Abstract

Body sounds serve as a valuable source of health information, offering insights into systems such as the cardiovascular, pulmonary, and gastrointestinal systems. Additionally, body sound measurements are easily accessible, fast, and non-invasive, which has led to their widespread use in clinical auscultation for diagnosing health conditions. However, conventional devices like stethoscopes are constrained by rigid and bulky designs, limiting their potential for long-term monitoring and often leading to subjective diagnoses. Recently, flexible, wearable mechano-acoustic sensors have emerged as an innovative alternative for body sound auscultation, offering significant advantages over conventional rigid devices. This review explores these advanced sensors, delving into their sensing mechanisms, materials, configurations, and fabrication techniques. Furthermore, it highlights various health monitoring applications of flexible, wearable mechano-acoustic sensors based on body sound auscultation. Finally, the existing challenges and promising opportunities are addressed, providing a snapshot of the current picture and the strategies of future approaches in this rapidly evolving field.