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This tiny electronic device applied to the skin can pick up heart and speech sounds

Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and Northwestern University have developed a tiny, soft, wearable acoustic sensor that measures vibrations in the human body and can be used to monitor human heart health and recognize spoken words. The stretchable Band-aid-like device attaches to the skin on nearly any surface of the body, using “epidermal electronics” to capture sound signals from the body. It ‘s a sort of tiny, wearable stethoscope. As described in an open-access paper published Nov. 16 in Science Advances, a sister journal of Science, it can detect things like heart murmurs in cardiac patients and lung problems, and can monitor ventricular assist devices. It can also be used to pick up speech sounds (for automated speech recognition or controlling video games and other machines), and even movements in gastrointestinal tracts.”

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