An audiovisual and quantitative heart sound teaching system

An audiovisual and quantitative heart sound teaching system (AVQHSTS) based on multimedia technology has been developed as an improved heart sound teaching tool. A hardware system was designed which allowed the recording of precordial heart sounds. For those heart sound samples stored on tapes, we used a cassette recorder to feed them into a multimedia PC. In addition, some other heart sound samples on the Internet and some on floppy disks were also collected. The main program has two modules. The first one is the heart auscultation teaching module. With the AVQHSTS, the phonocardiographic (PCG) waveform can be studied graphically on the screen, together with vocal explanations and prompts. Using this module, students can learn quantitative techniques for analysing the amplitude and duration of heart sound components and frequency spectrum analysis. Another program module is used to test the student's learning condition by randomly playing back a certain kind of heart sound and asking the student questions about it. During the use of this system, the users are not only readers but also listeners, viewers and operators simultaneously. The AVQHSTS and its heart sound database can also be used as a resource for continuing medical education.