Correlation Analysis in a Pulse Wave Velocity Evaluation

Abstract

In this paper, methods for a time delay evaluation of phonocardiographic (PCG) signals are presented to estimate a pulse wave velocity (PWV) in a cardiovascular system of a human body, especially in arterial segments of an arterial tree selected. A measuring method used for the pulse wave registration is fully non-invasive. Electronic phonendoscopes pressure/acoustic converters were used as signal transducers. The PWV estimation was carried out using correlation analysis of PCG signals, square of raw PCG signals and the first derivations of PCG signals. Signal processing, i.e. filtration, standardization, etc. was implemented in a Matlab environment using created application. A set of subjects examined in this experiment consists of five young healthy volunteers.