Preliminary Investigation of Temporomandibular Joint Acoustic Effects

In this paper we describe a preliminary study on recording and digital signal processing of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) acoustic signal. Disorders of TMJ can be analysed based on auscultation examination which can be supported by dedicated processing algorithms. In our research we proposed a method for determining the best placement of the stethoscope head for TMJ auscultation and an algorithm for automatic sound segmentation. The research was carried out in cooperation with dentist support and proved that designed methods have a great potential in dental clinical applications.